


To Sleep... Perchance to Dream

by The_Breaths_of_Chloe



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2018-04-14 17:22:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 102,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4573107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Breaths_of_Chloe/pseuds/The_Breaths_of_Chloe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dream, a missed chance, a fight, will Beca be able to save the one and only person she's ever loved before its too late and she loses her forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Hi there everybody! This is my first fanfic ever, so I hope you enjoy it!! It starts way back in Pitch Perfect 1 three weeks after the Bellas lost the regional competition.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Pitch Perfect 1 or 2 or any of the characters therein. (if you didn’t guess that already)

“You’re an asshole, you know that?”

The achingly familiar, yet completely unexpected voice, made Beca jump and let out a very surprised, very un-badass squeak. 

“Chloe, what the fuck? You scared the shit out of me. How did you even get in here? The door was supposed to be locked.”  
Still reeling from the surprise of the redhead showing up randomly in the DJ booth of the campus radio station in the middle of the night, Beca tried to speak coherently but instead word vomited questions at her favorite redhead, whom she had not spoken to since the debacle at the regional acapella competitions three weeks ago. 

“No, Mitchell.” Chloe spit out Beca’s last name quickly and with venom, almost like simply having the word in her mouth was unbearable “You don’t get to talk, for once you are going to shut your stupid mouth and listen to something somebody else has to say.”

Beca had never seen Chloe like this, her hair was crazy, swinging wild with even the slightest move of her head; her crystal blue eyes seemed to burn with an angry fire. Beca had never seen an intensity like that before on anyone, but especially not on Miss Chloe I-love-everybody-and-everything-even-when-they-don’t-deserve-it Beale, and even though Beca wasn’t sure what exactly was causing her best friend, confidant, and in her most honest moments, the girl she was in love with, to be in this state, she knew that whatever it was, was her fault and it killed her. Wisely instead of trying to make a dumb joke like she normally would to try and make Chloe feel better, Beca did as instructed, kept her mouth shut and simply nodded her head. 

With the small nod Beca gave, Chloe accepted that maybe Beca would actually listen to what she had to say. She crossed her arms over her chest, wanting to look as angry as she felt, and started to pace the small DJ booth. 

“What the fuck Beca, what the actual fuck?”

Beca had never heard Chloe drop an f-bomb, and the sound of it, twice in one sentence no less, made her even more uncomfortable than she had been at the beginning of this conversation. The discomfort of the moment only grew as Chloe stopped pacing, drew herself to her full height and looked down expectantly at Beca like she was actually waiting for a response. 

Beca still sitting in her swivel chair in front of the mixing board, looked down to her lap at her clasped hands before looking back up at Chloe and tentatively speaking.  
“I’m not sure I know what you mean Chlo.”

“Don’t you “Chlo” me, Mitchell. And what the fuck” Chloe emphasized the word making Beca flinch almost like she had been slapped, “do you mean, you don’t know what I mean? Regionals… Ring any bells?” Chloe finished only getting angrier with every word. 

Beca felt a flash of indignance at the mention of the regional competition and got up from her chair, crossing her arms over her chest to mimic Chloe’s stance. Not only had she already, kind of, apologized for changing the set, she was convinced she had been right. The judges and the crowd were dozing off and the other groups were standing there in the wings making fun of them, which they would have seen if anybody else had cared to look. Beca had done what she had to do to try and see her group through to the finals, because even if she rarely showed it, she really did care about them, and if they couldn’t understand that, even if Chloe was suddenly a part of that they, then they could just deal with it, she was out of the group anyway. 

“I already explained why I changed the set in the middle Chloe. I still stand behind what I did, nothing has changed.” Beca spat letting the indignance she was feeling sound in her voice and show on her face. 

Chloe’s bright blue eyes widened almost impossibly for just a moment, before returning to their previous squinted glare only this time even angrier than they had been just a moment before. The intensity of Chloe’s anger was actually starting to scare Beca, but as much as she wanted to sit back down, or at least back away from the enraged redhead, she held her ground and stood, arms crossed over her chest, steel blue eyes boring as forcefully as they could into the crystal blue ones in front of her. 

Chloe let out a laugh. Not her usual bubbly giggle, but a harsh, cold almost coughing sound that held no true amusement at all. With a sound so foreign coming out of Chloe, Beca couldn’t help it any longer and took a step back, suddenly not being so sure she was going to make it out of this conversation alive. 

“You think that is what this is about?” When she spoke Chloe’s voice was just above a whisper, but the quiet only served to emphasize the angriness blazing clearly in her eyes and also to scare Beca that much more. 

Beca sat down, the indignance completely leaving her small body. She was truly stunned at, not only the redhead’s capacity for anger, this was a side of Chloe always-happy-all-the-time Beal that she had never seen and couldn’t even imagine existing, but also at the statement. If Chloe wasn’t mad at her for “blowing their chances at getting to the finals” as Aubrey had accused her of, she legitimately had no clue what could possibly have Chloe fuming the way she was. Beca looked up at Chloe confused, when Chloe didn’t speak but just continued to glare down at her waiting, Beca finally spoke softly.

“Chloe if this isn’t about me changing the set, then I’m sorry, but I really don’t know what it could be about.” 

Chloe’s eyes flamed and Beca felt the energy in the room shift only a second prior to Chloe stepping forward, leaning in and forcefully poking a finger into Beca’s chest before releasing all the emotion and hurt that she had been dealing with, alone, for the past three weeks onto the unsuspecting brunette sitting in front of her. 

“I don’t give a flying shit that you changed the set, in fact Bree is the only one who cares about that. The rest of the group thought it was surprising but great” Chloe said before leaning in even closer to Beca’s face and poking her in the chest again. Then she added in a mocking voice full to the brim with acid “Don’t, you don’t have to pretend you have a say in the group anyway right” Chloe screamed Beca’s own words back at her from only inches away. Beca suddenly realizing what this was about, shrunk down into her chair feeling worse than ever and letting it show on her face and in her posture; but Chloe was on a roll and made it quite clear she wasn’t planning on stopping any time soon. Chloe knew she was ranting but she didn’t care, and just to drive her points even further home she punctuated every few words with another hard poke to Beca’s chest. “I tried to stand up for you, against my own best friend no less, the woman who has been by my side through every fucking thing in the last four years, and this is how you treat me? I’ve been trying to stand up for you all year, but every time I have, every fucking time I’ve tried, you push me away. You brush me off with some stupid comment, and I swear to God if I never hear the word “Queerballs” again it’ll be too fucking soon. You mock me openly in front of Bree and the entire group, while I’m trying to stand up for you, and then you walk away; and you know, I think I could have forgiven you if you had called or texted or anything. Chalked it up to another Mitchell mood swing but it’s been three fucking weeks Beca. Do you know how much shit you got me in with Bree? Do you? Do you know how many lectures I’ve had to listen to because of your little stunt? Do you know how many times I’ve had to sit and listen to her tell me that you’re not a Bella and that you never were, that you’re not worthy of my time at all, that you were just using me and my friendship? Do you know how close I’ve come to believing it?”

Chloe’s voice cracked on the last question, all her rage having suddenly expended itself leaving only the hurt, she leaned heavily on the arms of Beca’s chair and looked at Beca small and shrunken, just sitting there staring back at her. She waited. Waited for Beca to say something, to reach out to her, to do anything to make the ache in her chest stop. After a few moments of silence and Beca simply sitting stunned and looking at her like an emotionally stunted deer in headlights, Chloe stood straight, pushed the hair that had fallen into her face back and said, defeat and hurt clear in her eyes and her tone. 

“I guess Bree really was right then.” 

Chloe turned to walk out but quickly stopped and glanced back at Beca for just a moment, giving the small girl another chance to say something, before finally turning and walking out of the DJ booth as quickly and quietly as she had walked in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey guys, still with me? OK good, here we go on to Chapter 2. Still brand new at this and any and all reviews/suggestions still more than welcome! NOW ON WITH THE SHOW!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Pitch Perfect 1 or 2 or any of the characters therein. (if you didn’t guess that already)

Beca sat dumbly watching Chloe walk out of the booth. She was devastated. She remembered making the comment, she was angry at Aubrey and when Chloe tried stand up for her she struck out, just like she always did. She didn’t mean it. God, did she not mean it. Chloe should have known that, she knew Beca better than anyone else. Chloe was the most important person in Beca’s life, the only person who could bring her out of her shell, the only person who could pull her out of her “Mitchell mood swings” as Chloe had called them. Chloe knew that, didn’t she? She had to. How could she not? There’s no way she couldn’t. Right?

The latch on the door of the DJ booth clicking shut finally broke Beca out of her haze. She was up in a flash running out of the booth to catch Chloe before she got too far away, figuratively and literally. As Beca threw the door open and rounded the corner she saw Chloe, shoulders slumped and head hung with her hand on the door that led out of the radio station, just getting ready to push it open and leave. The sight broke her heart, knowing that she, and she alone, had caused Chloe I’m-pretty-confident-about-all-this Beale to look like a beaten puppy.

“Chloe, wait, please!” She called louder than she meant to. She flinched as her own voice echoed back to her, bouncing off the walls in the small room.

Chloe stopped, but didn’t turn around or take her hand off the door.

“Chloe, please, please, just…” Becca stopped, words failing her as usual.

“What Beca? Please what?” Chloe said all the usual pep and happiness in her voice replaced with a sadness and tiredness that was beyond description and made Beca’s chest hurt and eyes burn with unshed tears.

Beca fell to her knees, she didn’t know what to do, she was totally clueless. Chloe was always the one to help her know what to do in these situations, the one, the only one, that could help guide her through her own endless and tumultuous sea of emotions, but the light from Chloe’s lighthouse was dark for the moment and Beca felt dangerously close to fatally crashing on the rocky shore. The only thing Beca knew for sure, was that she couldn’t let the redhead, her redhead, out that door. So she said the only thing she could think of, the truest sentiment she could express at that moment.

“Don’t go. Please don’t go” It came out barely above a whisper, her voice breaking with every syllable, she wasn’t even sure if Chloe had heard her. “I didn’t mean it Chlo, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry” Beca sat back on her heels and covered her face with her hands only realizing that the unshed tears that had been stinging her eyes had started to fall, when she felt the moisture on her own cheeks. She just kept repeating “I’m so sorry” over and over again like a mantra or a magical chant that would somehow take the hurt and anger out of Chloe’s voice and make her eyes sparkle again.

There was a moment of silence from the other side of the room and then a small noise, Beca knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the noise was Chloe walking out the door, never to look back, and the slow falling tears quickly became sobs that shook her entire body. One flip comment too many had cost her her heart and she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to forgive herself.

“Becs?”

Beca, convinced she was now alone, jumped for the second time tonight at the familiar but unexpected voice.  She dropped her hands from her face to find Chloe on her knees on the floor in front of her, eyes glistening with tears of her own, not reaching out, just waiting and staring at her like she wasn’t totally sure who she was looking at.

“Chlo?” Beca said hesitantly as if she was afraid that if she spoke too loud Chloe would disappear and she would be alone again.

Chloe nodded slightly, and the corner of her mouth twitched into the slightest smile Beca had ever seen from her. With that simple confirmation Beca launched herself at the girl she hadn’t been able to get out of her head since that day at the activities fair, almost a year ago. They both fell into a pile of tangled limbs and Beca wrapped her arms tightly around Chloe’s body and laid her head on her chest, holding tight as if her very life depended on maintaining the contact. Neither of them were terribly comfortable, Chloe on her back on the cold hard floor and Beca laying awkwardly and mostly on top of Chloe, but neither of them wanted to break the contact they had both needed so badly, so they lied there on the floor awkwardly but content, together, before Beca broke the silence.

“I’m so sorry Chlo, I’m so sorry.” Beca started to repeat again.

“I know.” Chloe said bringing a hand up to rest gently on Beca’s back, stopping Beca from repeating how sorry she was, and then added. “Why didn’t you call or text or anything? I needed you.” Chloe’s voice was soft and gravely from the tears, and even though the anger was still absent, the hurt remained. 

Resolved that the only way to fix this was to be honest with the redhead in her arms Beca said.

“Because I needed you too, probably more than you’ll ever know, and it scared me, and sometimes I’m just too dumb for my own damn good”

Beca’s honest statement earned a chuckle out of Chloe, and the sound was like music to Beca’s ears. Feeling slightly better Beca raised her head from Chloe’s chest. Making eye contact, steel blue to crystal blue, Beca opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Beca closed her mouth and eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and tried to speak again.

“Chlo?”

“Becs?”

“I love you.”

Chloe sighed a contented sigh, this may not have been the most perfect moment of her life, lying here on the cold floor of the campus radio station, but it was exactly what she needed.

“I know, I love you too.” Chloe sighed more than said. She wasn’t used to this more emotional side of Beca, but she certainly wasn’t complaining.

Beca sat up and pulled Chloe up with her into a sitting positon, scooting a bit closer to her in the process.

“No that’s not what I mean”

Chloe chuckled again and a smile ghosted across Beca’s lips at the sound.

“I love you is pretty self-explanatory Becs.”

Beca was bad at this, she knew it, she always had been, but she knew she had to get this out, she had to finally tell Chloe what she meant to her. She pulled her knees up to her chest, rested her arms on them, rested her chin on her arms, and looked deeply into Chloe’s eyes trying to convey what she was wanted to say through her soft gaze. Chloe looked back at Beca questioningly, whether she was just too tired from the emotional night to read her, like she usually could, or if she was just trying to make Beca voice her feelings for once, Beca wasn’t sure; but either way there was no easy way out. So Beca took another deep breath and soldiered on.

“When I say I love you, I don’t mean it like we’ve always meant it in the past.”

“Beca, please.” Chloe said quietly “I’m exhausted, I’ve barely slept the last few days and this evening has drained the last bit of energy I had. Please just tell me what you mean.”

Beca closed her eyes, scrunched her face and blurted out as quickly as she could.

“I’minlovewithyouChloeBealeandIhavebeenforaverylongtime.”

Beca heard a sharp intake of breath from Chloe, and couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes, being terrified of what she might find on the face of the only person who could quite literally bring the badass Beca Mitchell to her knees. Another moment of silence and Beca felt a soft hand touch her cheek. She opened her eyes to find Chloe’s face inches away from hers for the second time tonight, but this time her eyes held none of the previous anger in fact they shone with nothing but love. Chloe took a shaky breath and readjusted until she was kneeling in front of the balled up girl and pulled Beca up from her guarded position until they were kneeling in front of each other.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear those words.” Chloe shortened the gap between the two and said incredibly softly, her lips ghosting against Beca’s, so Beca felt more than heard her say “I’m in love with you Beca Mitchell, and I have been for a very long time.”

Beca closed the rest of the distance and felt Chloe’s lips press into hers, impossibly soft and warm. Beca had imagined this moment more times that she cared to admit, even to herself, but in all her imaginings she could have never guessed exactly how incredible it would feel to actually kiss Chloe. They stayed like that for a long moment, lips pressed softly together, just breathing, enjoying the feeling of being so close and so intimate, but suddenly reality started to settle and it wasn’t enough. They had both wanted this, unbeknownst to the other for so long, and now they both needed more. Chloe was the first to deepen the kiss, even if just slightly, she brought her hands up, running them up the length of Beca’s arms to wrap them around Beca’s neck pulling her the last little bit closer to her. With this small bit of encouragement Beca placed one hand on the small of Chloe’s back keeping their bodies pressed flush against each other and fisted the other into the wild red hair that she loved so much. With the feeling of Beca’s hands on her Chloe couldn’t stop the sound that had been building since their lips first met and moaned quietly against Beca’s lips. Beca smiled into the kiss and slowly ran her tongue along Chloe’s full bottom lip, tentatively requesting entrance, still not completely believing this was happening. Chloe’s lips parted and in an instant the kiss changed from sweet and shy, to the most passionate moment either of them had ever experienced, and suddenly they were crashing into each other. Beca was the one to end up on her back this time, being pressed into the cold floor by Chloe’s full weight on top of her, both of their tongues fighting for dominance, hands exploring freely, limbs dancing together to a rhythm, that any outsider would never be able to see, and even though it was brand new to them, they both knew it as well as they knew the beats of their own hearts. In that instant neither one of them would have been able to tell you where they ended, and the other began. It was bliss, it was euphoria, it was the true definition of perfection.

It was only a moment later, Aubrey’s voice came screaming through the passionate haze. “GET YOUR ASS UP MITCHELL, YOU HAVE THINGS TO DO.”  Beca sat up straight in bed her arms still around the pillow that had been the real life star of her dream.

“Shit” Beca screamed to no one in particular, throwing the pillow across her bedroom before reaching over and silencing the alarm notification she had asked Aubrey to record for her during the retreat she had taken with the Bellas five years before.

Beca swung her legs over the edge of her bed and sat looking out her window at the sky line of Los Angeles, before scrubbing her face with her hands and saying to out loud to herself. “It’s gonna be one of those damn days.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there you have it chapter 2 done and over with. Still with me? I hope so! There is plenty more to come. Quite a bit more explanation coming in chapter 3, which should be out in the next couple of days. 
> 
> Also little bit of an extra note, I was listening to “Still Hurting” from the soundtrack of “The Last Five Years” (if you haven’t seen it, go, go now and watch it. I’ll wait…) on repeat for about ten hours, while writing these first two chapters, so that may give you a hint at where some of the angst came from. ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello again lovelies, and welcome to anyone joining us for the first time. So here we are in chapter 3. I haven’t seen anyone following me around with torches and pitch forks yet so hopefully you don’t hate me too terribly much for the last chapter.  
> This chapter kind of got away from what I was originally intending and ended up with a ton more back story than I thought, so what was meant to be one chapter has been split into two. Thanks for hanging with me so far! And just a note flash backs are in italics. So without further ado… Here we go.  
> Disclaimer: Nope, I still don’t own the rights to Pitch Perfect 1 or 2 or any of the characters therein. (If I somehow acquire them you all will be the first to know!)

Beca wasn’t sure how long she had actually been sitting and staring out her window but however long it had been was long enough for Aubrey’s high, clear voice to explode out of her phone again “GET YOUR ASS UP MITCHELL, YOU HAVE THINGS TO DO.”  Beca reached over to her night stand and picked up her phone from where it sat on its charging pad next to the picture she kept there of the Bellas on graduation day, and quickly silenced the alarm and shut off the next two that were set to go off in twenty minute intervals. Beca was still not a morning person.

Even though Beca knew what had brought on the dream about Chloe, she still couldn’t shake it. The real memory of that night played around the edges of her mind, dancing around the dream and the way Beca had wished the night had gone, and after checking the time on her phone to make sure she wouldn’t be late to the office if she took a few moments to herself, she stood up stretched and decided to take her, at this point unavoidable, walk down memory lane out on her balcony with a cup of coffee.

After a quick trip to her kitchen, now with a cup of coffee in one hand and her ever present cell phone in the other, Beca made her way out on to her balcony. She sat down and looked out across the ocean which, especially on clear, bright, warm mornings like this, never failed to remind her of Chloe and the unbelievable blue of the woman’s eyes.

Beca leaned back in her deck chair, closed her eyes and slowly let the real memory of that night come back to her.

_Chloe had been angry, so, so angry, hair crazy, eyes wild, and even though she had scared Beca, Beca couldn’t help but think how beautiful she looked, her eyes on fire and her hair flying. She reminded her of a character from a book she read once, a Greek goddess, or was it some kind of gladiator, she couldn’t remember, but the character was a fighter, brutal, but always on the side of light. Beca couldn’t help but draw the comparison in that moment._

_Chloe had screamed at her poking her in the chest, over and over in the same spot, Chloe had poked her so hard and so many times it had actually left a bruise. Not that Beca could really blame her. Beca remembered how after the redhead was done screaming she had chased her out of the booth and saw her standing at the door looking so dejected._

A tear slipped out of Beca’s eye and fell down her cheek at the memory.

_She had fallen to her knees and apologized, not knowing what else to do, she thought the redhead had walked out and was shocked when Chloe’s voice came at all, but especially from so close. “Becs?” she had asked quietly kneeling in front of her. “Chlo?” Beca had asked back. Chloe smiled ever so slightly and Beca launched herself at her knocking her backwards, they lied like that for a while. Beca had told Chloe that she loved her and Chloe had said it back and while it was rare, it wasn’t a new thing for them._

_Beca had wanted so badly to kiss the redhead in her arms and confess that she didn’t just love her but was **in** love with her, but every time she opened her mouth to speak it was like all the breath had been pulled from her lungs and she simply closed her mouth and stayed silent. _

_After a few minutes Chloe sighed, kissed Beca on top of the head and told her that if she ever did anything like she had, the night of regionals, again she would murder her in her sleep. With a quiet shared laugh and Beca telling Chloe that she had her full permission to do that if the situation ever repeated itself, they picked themselves up off the floor and with a quick hug each went their own ways. Chloe back to her dorm and Beca back to the small DJ booth absently thinking she was thankful that in her boredom earlier in the evening she had created an extra-long play list that would keep music playing for her entire shift. When they parted each girl felt a little better but still alone and still not quite right because of the never voiced confession that they both wanted to make so badly._

Beca realized as she opened her eyes again that that night had been just over eight years ago. Eight years and just a couple of months if she wasn’t mistaken.

“Wow, a lot can change in eight years” Beca thought.

_After Beca had graduated she had stayed six months in Atlanta after landing a job as a producer at Residual Heat; but it wasn’t long until, thanks to her incredible talent and working with some truly big name artists, her name made its way west and she was getting offers right and left from big record companies like Sony and Capitol. She eventually signed a yearlong contract with Sony and moved to LA. After her year with Sony was up she decided she had made enough connections and enough of a name for herself to start her own record label. She called it Red industries and three and a half years later it was the hottest label in town and DJ Blue was a household name for anybody with an ear for great music._

Beca was 27 and on top of the world, except for one thing. She hadn’t spoken to Chloe in three years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there you have it that should explain a bit more about what’s going on. Chapter 4 will have the rest of the story. So still with me? How am I doing so far? Anything in particular you’d like to see in upcoming chapters? Any and all comments/suggestions/reviews are welcome as always. Also if you are so inclined you can follow me on tumblr at the-breaths-of-chloe


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So since this is technically part two of chapter three, this chapter is entirely a flashback, starting right after graduation and the worlds, any other time jumps are explained in the story. Now we find out why exactly Beca hasn’t spoken to Chloe in three years. This chapter is HEAVY in backstory and veeerrrrryyy long. So… yeah… you have been warned. :-)   
> Disclaimer: Nope, I still don’t own the rights to the song lyrics used, Pitch Perfect 1 or 2 or any of the characters therein. (If I somehow acquire them you’ll know when Bechloe becomes cannon!)

_Chloe and Beca had planned to get an apartment in downtown Atlanta after graduation, but at Chloe’s fathers insistence she had decided to go off to grad school in Chicago to get her MBA, just after coming back from the worlds._

_The day Chloe left Beca was a mess. The Bellas had all assembled at Beca’s apartment to see Chloe off. Beca watched as Chloe said tearful goodbyes to all of her former teammates. Telling each one of them how much the time they had spent together meant to her, peppering her stories with little anecdotes specific to each person, making each one of the Bellas feel like they were the only person in the world for that moment, in the way that only Chloe could. When Chloe was done with all the goodbyes Beca helped her load all her luggage up into her car and the two took off for the airport, they played the radio at full volume, listening to a joint playlist they had made on Beca’s phone, argued about and remade about a thousand times over the four years they had known each other, both singing at the top of their lungs, both trying not to think about the last goodbye that would have to be said._

_At the airport, after three trips back to the car because Chloe forgot one thing or another, they finally had all Chloe’s bags checked, except for her small wheeled carry-on, and were standing facing each other awkwardly in front of the gate where Chloe would stand in line to be let into the boarding area. Beca looked down at her feet rubbing at a scuff on the floor with her toe of her shoe._

_“Beca?” Chloe said softly._

_“Yeah?” Beca said not looking up._

_“Please look at me.”_

_At that Beca looked up, her eyes shining with unshed tears._

_“Hey now.” Chloe said comfortingly before resting her arms on Beca’s shoulders, over the four years she had known the small DJ she had seen her cry a handful of times and it always broke her heart when it happened, even more so when she knew she was the cause of the tears. “None of that, it’s not like this is an actual goodbye. We can facetime on the weekends or any other time you want really, as long as I’m not in class, and we can text all the time, and it’s not like I’m moving to Antarctica. Chicago isn’t THAT far away from Atlanta, you can come up and visit for spring break, and I can come see you on summer break. Plus” Chloe added in her perkiest tone “it’ll only be four years, I’m sure with the way your career is going to take off you’ll barely notice that any time has gone by at all. Then we can get that apartment we always talked about sharing after graduation. ”_

_“With the little stone lions on the mantel piece?” Beca asked, referencing a quote from a 60’s horror movie which was one of Chloe’s favorites and that she had made Beca watch at least thirty times over their four years together._

_Chloe laughed “Yeah, exactly. So you find the stone lions, and as soon as I’m out of grad school we’ll find a mantel piece to put them on.”_

_Beca looked into Chloe’s eyes, and pulled the redhead into a tight hug, the unexpected movement causing Chloe to let out a little squeak of surprise. Chloe recovered quickly and wrapped her arms tightly around Beca._

_As Beca stood there in Chloe’s arms there were so many things she wanted to say, she wanted to tell Chloe that she was in love with her, that no matter how big her career got, that missing her would always be the biggest part of her day, that nothing would be right until she was back in her life, by her side, but instead she simply whispered “I love you Chloe.” Into a cloud of red hair that smelled like sandalwood, as the tears she had been trying so hard not to release finally started to flow._

_Chloe squeezed her tighter as she softly began to cry as well and whispered back “I love you too Beca.”_

_They stood there for a few minutes like that holding each other and crying, until they were both finally cried out and they separated._

_Chloe looked at her watch. “I should probably go get in line while it’s still relatively short” She said gesturing at the line of five people waiting to go through the TSA check point._

_“Yeah definitely, the more passengers the TSA people have to check the crankier they get.” Beca said hating how stupid she sounded._

_“Ok, bye Becs.” Chloe said and grabbed the extended handle on her wheeled carryon bag and started to walk towards the line with a little wave back to Beca._

_“Chloe.” Beca called out._

_Chloe turned back to face her, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes. “Yeah?”_

_Beca had decided, she was going to do it, she was finally going to tell Chloe that she was in love with her, but before her heart could send the message to her mouth, her head took over and she heard the words. “Have a safe flight, and call me as soon as you land so I know you got there in one piece.” Come tumbling out of her mouth._

_Chloe looked a little crest fallen, but just for a split second before her happy smile was back. “Thanks Becs, I will. You have a safe drive back home.”_

_With that Beca smiled and gave a little wave and turned to walk out of the airport and away from the only person she had ever been in love with. Beca got to her car before she broke down, hard sobs racking her little body. She sat in the parking lot sobbing for over an hour before she finally was in any condition to drive home._

_=====================================================================================_

_A few weeks later and everything was going as planned. Beca and Chloe had weekly facetime “dates” where they would talk about their weeks and Beca would keep Chloe up to date on everything that was going on with the new Bellas crew, information she got courtesy of Emily, they texted every day and both of them were settling nicely into their new lives, they missed each other, of course, but they knew this arrangement wasn’t permanent._

_It wasn’t until summer break almost two years later when Chloe came to visit Beca in Los Angeles that Beca really realized that something wasn’t right. Sure their weekly facetime “dates” had gone down to every two or three weeks and then to monthly and then to not at all, but Beca understood. Chloe was crazy busy with school, and yeah they didn’t text quite as much as they once had, but they both had such crazy schedules, Chloe with school and Beca with trying to start a new label, it was hard to get away from what you were doing sometimes, even if it was just to send a quick text. Although, admittedly, Beca was better at it than Chloe, but Beca still understood._

_It all started to come crashing down on Beca, when she picked Chloe up from the airport. Chloe was coming in to town for two weeks and Beca couldn’t have been more excited as she stood outside the gate, her face very close to being pressed up against the glass partition, watching all the people file out of the tunnel connecting the airport to the plane. Due to a scheduling conflict with Chloe’s classes they had missed the visit that normally would have happened over spring break a few months earlier and Beca found herself missing Chloe more than she ever thought possible._

_After what felt like a million and a half people getting off the plane, seriously, what was this a clown plane, she finally saw Chloe walk out with her trusty wheeled carryon bag rolling along behind her. Beca started to wave furiously, but quickly stopped, when she noticed that Chloe didn’t see her and didn’t seem to be looking for her. It was Chloe, but she was somehow different, her hair, instead of being its usual curly mess bobbing around her shoulders, or pulled up in a messy bun, had been straightened and was pulled back in a tight pony tail, she was dressed in black slacks, a silk hunter green button down shirt, and simple black heels. She was still beautiful, of course, but she looked so… professional and her attitude seemed to match the change in her appearance. Usually, the few times she had visited Beca, she would come almost bouncing out of the plane, eyes searching for Beca as soon as she was in range of the gate, but this time she was walking forward with an almost laser like focus on the exit._

_She looks so… grown up. Beca thought to herself while walking over to the gate exit to meet her, suddenly feeling very under dressed in her jean shorts, faded blue tank top and flip flops.  Chloe walked out into the terminal and finally saw Beca, she smiled, but Beca noticed it wasn’t her usual thousand gigawatt smile but just a normal smile that you could see on any person anywhere. Beca didn’t really have a chance to contemplate the change before Chloe was right in front of her. Beca let the worries go and opened her arms wide for a hug, hoping that all the changes she was seeing were just in her head. Chloe stepped in but kept a few inches between their bodies as she returned Beca’s hug with a light quick hug of her own, and then stepped back putting at least a foot and a half of distance between the two. Chloe that-song-is-my-lady-jam-will-you-sing-it-for-me-naked-in-the-shower Beale, with personal boundaries? This concept didn’t even begin to make sense to Beca._

_“Hey Chlo. Have a good flight?” Beca said her excitement growing dimmer by the second, not even being sure the redhead would answer with the relatively cold reception she had been given._

_“Hey, Beca. Yeah I did, it was quiet, which was nice.” Chloe responded._

_“Well good” Beca said at a bit of a loss for words and then added quickly “We should probably go get your bags so we can get out of here.”_

_“Sounds good” Chloe said._

_With that, Beca and Chloe both turned to walk down the terminal to the baggage claim. As they walked the usually comfortable silence between them became more and more strained. Beca not being able to take it anymore finally asked._

_“So how’s everything been going in the windy city?”_

_“Really good,” Chloe quickly answered. “I actually took a seminar last semester called Empowering Women in Business, which really gave me a lot of insight into myself and my role in the world.”_

_Beca was happy that Chloe was finally talking to her, but the kind of talking Chloe was doing was not really what Beca was expecting, or wanting, for that matter. For the next hour and ten minutes, all through waiting at the baggage claim, walking to the car and the ride back to Beca’s apartment, Chloe went on about this seminar and how it had changed things for her, which Beca thought was great, but what she didn’t think was so great was the fact that Chloe kept using words and phrases like synergy, autocratic and 360 degree thinking and a few others that Beca wasn’t even sure were real things._

_The other thing that bothered Beca was that Chloe had none of the enthusiasm that she used to exude when talking about things she loved. Beca remembered a time during her junior year that a slightly drunk Chloe had gone on for over an hour about why she loved mac and cheese so much, and even though the subject was something that Beca really couldn’t care less about, she found herself mesmerized by the passion that Chloe had about the pasta dish and followed every word. In fact to this day Beca could still list off most, if not all, of reasons the redhead was so enamored with mac and cheese. That’s the way it was most of the time Chloe talked, the subject really didn’t matter but her passion and enthusiasm for it would keep you enthralled until she had finished talking, but now listening to her talk almost noncommittally about this seminar, which she said had basically changed her whole life, and the business world and the roles of women in business, Beca found her mind wandering, which was such a foreign concept to her it was hard to even consider._

_Chloe finished talking just as they pulled into the parking lot of Beca’s apartment complex._

_“Wow, sounds like you really had a great time during this seminar.” Beca responded her mind snapping back to the redhead sitting next to her, in the absence of a voice in the car._

_“Well… I guess I did yeah, but it’s not really about having a “great time”” Chloe said using air quotes “it’s more about learning who you are as a person, and who you want to become as a business person, and how to make the transition between the two.”_

_Beca was honestly not even really sure what that meant, so she responded in the only way she could think._

_“Well I always thought you were pretty great as you were.” She tried to convey her fondness for the woman sitting next to her with her voice but all she got back from Chloe was a scoff and an incredulous._

_“Yeah, thanks.”_

_Beca was totally taken aback at this new Chloe, but she decided not to press at the moment, she figured there was at least a possibility that Chloe was just jet lagged and after a relaxing evening and a good night sleep she’d be back to her bubbly self. At least Beca desperately hoped that was the case._

_When they made it up to Beca’s apartment, with all Chloe’s luggage in tow, Beca took Chloe on the grand tour, which didn’t really take long due to the fact that Beca lived in a fairly small three bedroom apartment. Beca showed Chloe the necessities first, spare bedroom where Chloe would be staying, the bathroom and the kitchen. Beca then went on to her office where all of her mixing equipment was at, the dining room which was really just a bit of the living room sectioned off with paper screens painted with cityscapes, and finally the living room where the crowning glory was a mantel piece covered in pictures of the Bellas and Beca and Chloe, and two little stone lions sitting at each end. As Beca ushered Chloe into the living room she gestured grandly with her hands and said._

_“And for the last stop, the living room”_

_“Wow Beca, you’ve done well for yourself. This place is really ni…” Chloe stopped mid word and walked over to the mantel piece, standing right in front of one of the stone lions, she reached up and ran her finger over the lion’s mane and turned to Beca smiling with a slight sparkle in her eye._

_Beca’s breath caught in her throat, the smile she was seeing wasn’t the thousand gigawatt smile she was used to seeing on Chloe’s face but it was the most genuine smile she had seen since she had picked the woman up from the airport, and it gave her hope that maybe the real Chloe, her Chloe, was still in there somewhere under all the business jargon and fancy clothes._

_“You found stone lions” Chloe said, her voice soft._

_“Yeah Emily dragged me to an estate sale, when I visited Atlanta a few months back, and I found them. I couldn’t resist. I hoped you would like them.” Beca said with a smile._

_“I do.” Chloe said simply giving Beca another smile, this one lighting up her face a little bit, turning Beca’s spark of hope into a small blaze._

_Chloe turned her back to Beca and walked slowly in front of the mantel piece looking at all the pictures, mostly of the two of them, proudly displayed there, and finally touched the mane of the stone lion on the other end. She bowed her head slightly and then turned back around._

_Beca had been watching Chloe closely the whole time she was looking at the pictures. The small blaze of hope growing exponentially with every passing second, right up until Chloe turned back to face her. The look on Chloe’s face made it clear that “New Chloe” was back in force and Beca felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on her blaze of hope and simultaneously punched her in the stomach._

_“I know it’s a bit early here but do you think we could grab something to eat? To me it’s dinner time.” Chloe said, no trace in her voice of the emotion that was showing on her face just a moment before._

_It took Beca a moment to be able to form words in the face of her confusion and disappointment, but she was eventually able to get out. “Yeah sure, I haven’t eaten since breakfast so that works. We can go grab something”_

_“Great,” Chloe said breezing by her “I’ll just go change and then we can go.”_

_“Sure, sounds great.” Beca said, but Chloe was already out of ear shot._

_Beca sat down on her couch bewildered, what the hell was going on with Chloe? For a few moments her Chloe was back smiling a subdued version of that smile that says “I can’t believe you remembered.” And then like a flash New Chloe was back. Was this a defense mechanism? It sure as hell seemed like it, but what exactly was Chloe defending against, and why would she feel the need to be defensive with Beca? They had always been two peas in a pod, each able to pull the other one out of any funk they might find themselves in. The idea hit Beca like a brick to the side of the head. That was it, this was just a weird funk Chloe was in and if anyone would be able to pull Chloe out of it would be her. Now she just had to figure out where to start._

_Beca was deep in thought, but had made unfortunately little progress on her plan when Chloe walked back in._

_“Ready to go?” She asked, her average person, New Chloe smile plastered on her face._

_Beca jumped slightly being jarred from her thoughts but quickly replied. “Yep, sure am.”_

_They left the apartment and drove to one of Beca’s favorite restaurants, a little hole in the wall pasta place. They stood in line as they looked over the menu, having opted for takeout._

_“So what’s good here?” Chloe asked_

_“They have the best mac and cheese in the city.” Beca responded quickly smiling._

_“Mac and cheese? Isn’t that a little… childish?” Chloe said with a laugh._

_Beca felt once again like someone had punched her. “Oh… yeah… I guess so, I just remembered you used to like it.” Beca said sheepishly, and then quickly added “Um… the Pad Thai is really good, and any of the curries are great too.”_

_“Ok, I do like Pad Thai, and yeah I did used to like mac and cheese, but that’s one of the things they talked about in the seminar. Childish behavior will almost always lead to people treating you like a child and in the business world that will very quickly be the death of you.”_

_The more Chloe talked about the seminar the more Beca hated it. It didn’t help that Chloe was quoting it the same way she used to quote song lyrics. The thought gave Beca an idea._

_“Oh, yeah… that makes sense… I guess. So are you singing at all up in Chicago?” Beca said changing the subject quickly “I know you had mentioned a while ago that you were going to look into starting an acapella group at the school.”_

_At the mention of singing, the real Chloe came crashing back, but this time instead of a sparkle or a smile, it was sad Chloe that came out. The look that suddenly appeared on Chloe’s face was the one that always made Beca feel like she had just clubbed a baby seal._

_“No, I don’t really sing anymore.” Was all Chloe said._

_Beca was shocked, Chloe not singing was like your average person not breathing. Chloe Beale needed music like most people needed water or food._

_“But why not?” Beca asked letting the shock sound clearly in her voice and show on her face._

_“I just really don’t have time anymore.” Chloe said sadly looking down at her feet. When she looked back up at Beca the sadness was still slightly there but now it was tinged with something that looked almost like arrogance. “Besides at the seminar they told us that we should really cut anything out of our lives that doesn’t support our main focus.”_

_“Jesus! Chlo.” Beca almost shouted before she could stop herself._

_Chloe looked back at Beca completely shocked before darting her eyes around the busy dining room and at the other people waiting in line with them, obviously hoping Beca hadn’t drawn too much attention to them, Beca lowered her voice but kept the exasperation clear._

_“What did they do to you at that seminar, it’s like they fucking brain washed you. You barely smile, when you talk it’s like **you** don’t even care about what you’re saying, and now you tell me you don’t sing anymore because it doesn’t support your focus. What the hell does that even mean?” _

_Beca watched Chloe’s face intently, looking for something she could work with, something she could make sense of, but all she saw were Chloe’s defenses come crashing down full force and then saw fire in her eyes, but even that was muted, a dull smolder, New Chloe couldn’t even get pissed properly it seemed._

_Beca was honestly expecting Chloe to give her a long lecture about business something or other, or tell her how they said this at the seminar and this is how we should deal with people who don’t understand our main synergy, autocratic, 360 degree thinking objective or something equally as obtuse, but as the redhead turned her back on Beca and simply stared at the menu while they waited for the last few people to order, it became clear that she was, instead,  going to go with the tried and true, silent treatment._

_A few minutes later they made it to the counter, ordered their food to go, waited for it, left the restaurant, got back in the car, and drove back to Beca’s apartment all in complete silence. Beca wondered how long it could continue like this, she didn’t really want to be the one to break the silence because she knew she would have to apologize and she didn’t really feel like she had done anything wrong, she was simply showing concern for her friend, sure she could have done it a little more diplomatically but anyone who knew Beca Mitchel, knew that her and diplomacy weren’t even passing acquaintances._

_When they got into Beca’s apartment Chloe waited until Beca had taken the containers of food out of the bag and pushed Chloe’s towards her before taking her food and walking back to the room that was hers for the next two weeks, and not exactly slamming the door, but not shutting it quietly either._

_Shit. Beca thought. She sat down on her couch her food forgotten on the dining room table, she knew what she had to do but needed a minute before she could actually bring herself to do it. She sat for a few minutes, got up and made her way down the hall to her spare bedroom, she stood in front of the door staring at it like she had never seen it before, until she finally mustered up the courage to knock. She knocked and waited, when no response came she knocked again and called out loud enough to be heard through the door._

_“Chlo, can I please come in? I’d like to talk to you.” Still nothing, Beca waited for another moment before starting to reach out for the door handle to let herself into the room, decorum be damned, but before her hand made it to the knob she heard a soft “Come in.”_

_Beca opened the door and stepped in. The room was dark but the big window that took up most of one wall let in enough ambient light that she was still able to see. She walked over and sat down on the foot of the bed. Chloe sat at the head of the bed in an old t-shirt, her legs covered with the blanket, glaring at Beca._

_“Look Chlo, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you with what I said, it’s just that…” Beca stopped, losing her words for the moment._

_“It’s just what Beca?” Chloe’s face still looked angry but her voice just sounded tired._

_“It’s just that… I feel like you’ve been pulling away from me lately, and then you show up here and you’re so different, so not you, at least not the you, you were, and then you tell me you’re not singing and you’re dressed all fancy and using all kinds of big business words and talking nonstop about this seminar thingy and not even excitedly like you used to. I dunno… I guess I’m just worried about you.” Beca hadn’t even really realized she felt most of those things until they came tumbling out of her mouth, but once they were out there she knew they were all the God’s honest truth._

_“Beca, I…” Chloe stopped and softened visibly, landing somewhere between New Chloe and old Chloe, “I’m sorry. It’s just I’m going through so many changes lately and trying to make so many changes in my life, sometimes it gets away from me.”_

_“What gets away from you?” Beca asked._

_“I dunno. Life?” Chloe answered her voice and face unreadable._

_“Chlo, I understand life being crazy, I mean with opening my label, half the time I feel like I’m totally out of my mind and the other half I’m pretty sure that I should be institutionalized for even thinking about doing what I’m doing, but no matter what, I’m still me, and you can still be you.” Beca paused, knowing she needed to say more but not quite being sure how. “I need you to still be you. You’re the most important person in my life and I don’t know what I would do without you.” She finally finished, it wasn’t totally what she wanted to say but it would have to do._

_“I am me Becs, this is who I am, who I’m trying to become at least and if I really am the most important person in your life you’ll understand that and accept it.”_

_Beca wanted to scream at Chloe and tell her that the person she always had been was the most perfect person in existence and there was no reason to change anything, but instead she simply said._

_“I’ll try.”_

_“Thank you.” Chloe said softly._

_Both women sat quietly staring out the window for a few minutes, the silence between them was not as comfortable as it once was but not as uncomfortable as it had been earlier that day. Chloe finally broke the silence._

_“I should probably try to get some sleep, the flight and the evening kind of wore me out.”_

_“Yeah, sure, no problem.” Beca said getting up to leave, as she reached the door, she stopped turned back and said “Good night Chloe.”_

_“Good night Beca” Chloe said with a small smile._

* * *

 

_The next two weeks passed in a blur, they went much the same way as the first day had gone, minus the fight. Beca took Chloe on a tour of her studio, on a tour of LA, to the beach, to a couple of concerts, anything she could think of that would bring a little bit of the old Chloe out, which did actually happen on occasion._

_The most noticeable time was on the tour of her studio. They had wandered all over the building, Beca explaining what each room was for and pointing out her favorite places, her personal studio, the lunch room, the coffee room, they ended the tour in Beca’s office which was smallish but still a decent size. Beca’s favorite feature was the giant window that sat behind her desk that, being on an upper floor, had a beautiful view of the city. Chloe, at Beca’s insistence, sat in the desk chair to really get the full effect, and was turning back around to tell Beca that it really was a great view, when she spotted a picture on Beca’s desk that caught her attention. It was a selfie that they had taken together, huddled under an umbrella, walking down the streets of Copenhagen. Chloe picked up the picture and stared at it for a long time before looking up at Beca with that old sparkle in her eye. The one that always made Beca feel like the rest of the world had disappeared and it was just the two of them left in existence. Beca stared into Chloe’s eyes until Chloe seemed to come back to herself put the picture back and simply said_

_“I always loved that picture.”_

_The other times were all small instances, a sparkle in Chloe’s eyes when she saw a tchotchke that piqued her interest while they were shopping or a brief but genuine smile when Beca would make a silly comment or do something intentionally dumb to make her laugh. They weren’t big moments and even though Beca was actually starting to, mostly, get used to New Chloe, the moments were enough to keep Beca holding on, believing that her Chloe was still there somewhere._

_=====================================================================================_

_The day Chloe was scheduled to leave, Beca was, once again, a mess. She wasn’t used to this new organized Chloe. So Beca kept flitting around her apartment making sure that Chloe had made sure she packed everything she came with. Finally having enough of the nervousness, Chloe grabbed Beca by the shoulders._

_“Beca, for the love of God woman, calm down! I have everything, I’m all packed and ready to go. I’m good! I don’t need you to look after me.”_

_Beca flinched visibly at the words and Chloe sighed._

_“I’m sorry,” Chloe said, slightly squeezing Beca’s shoulders before letting go “I didn’t mean to be harsh, I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”_

_“No problem.” Beca said reaching out and grabbing Chloe’s hand. “I understand” She looked into Chloe’s eyes and saw her resolve and her walls start to come down just a little._

_“Beca?”_

_“Yes?”_

_Chloe paused, thinking, before gently pulling her hand out of Beca’s and looking away. “We should probably head out, the airlines say you should get there two hours early to make sure you get through the TSA check point and can board on time.”_

_Chloe’s voice was soft and Beca knew that wasn’t what she had originally intended to say, but Beca let it go for the moment and simply said._

_“Right.”_

_Beca helped Chloe get her luggage down to the car and loaded up, they made small talk about things they had done during their visit, and about the things Chloe had planned for the rest of her summer as they started their drive to the airport. As the conversation slowly died out Beca took a chance and started the joint playlist they had made so many years ago. Chloe looked at Beca and smiled before turning her head to look out the window and softly humming along to the music coming out of the speakers._

_At the airport, all of Chloe’s bags checked, they stood, once again, like they had two years ago when Chloe had first gone to Chicago. Beca feeling a similar sense of dread as she had that day, only worse this time. Chloe looked at Beca her new guarded smile secure on her face._

_“Well I guess this is it.”_

_“It?” Beca asked. Thinking this was already going in a direction she didn’t like at all._

_“I mean for the trip, I’m going back. You know, I probably won’t see you for a while.” Chloe said her eyes darting around but not fixing on any one point._

_“Oh… yeah, right. But I mean we’ll still be in touch. Texting and stuff. Right?” Beca asked worriedly._

_“Yeah, of course.” Chloe said a little too quickly her voice a bit higher than usual._

_Beca was screaming inside her head. She knew she was losing Chloe._

_“Well I should probably go, make sure I get checked in on time and all.” Chloe said_

_“Yeah, sure.” Beca said_

_“Goodbye, Beca.”_

_Goodbye, not bye, not see you later. This really was it, Beca thought. Chloe wasn’t just going back to school, she was planning on leaving her for good, walking away and not looking back, Beca wasn’t entirely sure how she knew it, but she knew it as surely as she knew that she was in love with Chloe._

_Beca tried to think fast, she had one shot to get this right, and she sure as hell better make it count. Beca opened her arms wide and Chloe stepped in for the light, distant hug that had become her norm, but Beca was having none of it, not this time, not with so much on the line. She grabbed Chloe, pulled her against her and held her tight. Earning a surprised “Oh” from Chloe._

_Beca held her until she felt Chloe tentatively and loosely put her arms around her. Beca wouldn’t lose her, she couldn’t._

_“Chlo?” Beca said softly her face very close to Chloe’s ear._

_“Beca.” Chloe said equally soft but with a strange note to her voice, almost sounding like a warning._

_“There’s something, I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”_

_“Beca, please don’t.” Chloe said in a whisper that bordered on pleading._

_The words I’m in love with you were on the tip of Beca’s tongue, but even now faced with losing the person that meant the most in the world to her, she couldn’t bring herself to say them. So she did the next best thing. She started to sing._

_“Your lips hang heavy_

_Underneath me._

_And I promised myself_

_I wouldn’t let you_

_Complete me._

_I’m trying not to let it show_

_That I don’t wanna let you go.”_

_“Beca. No.” Chloe said still impossibly quiet, the tears obvious even in her whisper._

_“Chloe… Chloe Beale, I’m… I’m…”_

_“No. Becs, please.”_

_“I’m in love with you.”_

_“No!” Chloe almost shouted as she wedged her hands between her own chest and Beca’s shoulders and pushed, forcibly shoving the smaller woman back and away from her. “You don’t get to say that to me! Not now, not after all this time, not after all the chances I’ve given you, not after all I’ve…” Chloe stopped her tears choking her._

_Beca couldn’t stand to see Chloe cry, especially knowing she was the cause of the tears. She took a step forward to comfort her, as her own tears started to burn the backs of her eyes._

_“No!” Chloe said harshly, anger wining out over the tears. Chloe threw her hand out in front of her to keep Beca at least arm’s length away.  All of a sudden old Chloe was back, her crystal blue eyes on fire ready to burn anything that crossed her path. This was the Chloe that Beca had seen that night so many years ago in the DJ booth at the school radio station, the goddess or the gladiator.  “No, Mitchell” Chloe spit Beca’s last name at her the same way she had done that night “not this time. You’ve had your chance, more than your fair share of chances actually. I waited. I waited so long for you. I kept telling myself that eventually you would come around. That you did love me, and eventually you would tell me and we could be together, like I wanted, like I needed, but did you? No! You were a selfish little shit, you could never step outside of yourself and your own insecurities long enough to see what I needed. Do you have any idea, how badly it hurts to watch the person you love more than anything in the world string you along for six years? Do you know how badly it hurts to let them do it, because even though you know you deserve better you can’t bring yourself to cut them loose? I tried to come back here, to prove to myself that you didn’t still have a hold on me, to prove to myself that I could do this, that I could see you and not let it hurt me, not let you hurt me, but you just couldn’t let me be, you had to keep poking and prodding, trying to get “the real me” back. Well guess what Beca, this is “the real me” now. I’m tired of being walked on by you and by everyone else and it stops right now.” Chloe stopped, breathing heavy, anger and hurt still clear on her face and blazing in her eyes._

_Beca was lost, she had never known that Chloe felt any of this, that Chloe had harbored this darkness for all these years, that she was the planet that had permanently eclipsed the sun in Chloe’s world. She stood there tears flowing steadily down her cheeks her arms wrapped around her own body to keep herself from reaching out to Chloe. She was the reason for the defenses, the reason for “New Chloe”, she had hurt Chloe beyond all measure, and for the first time since she had met Chloe she had no way to fix this, no way to make Chloe feel better and take the hurt and anger out of her eyes. As lame as it sounded Beca said the only thing she could think._

_“Chloe, I’m so sorry.”_

_“It won’t work this time Beca. It’s too little, too late. Now it’s my turn to say something to you that I should have said a long time ago. Goodbye Rebecca Mitchell.” The finality in Chloe’s tone sent a chill straight to Beca’s soul, there was no question. This was it._

_Chloe swiped at her eyes, grabbed the extended handle of her carryon bag and turned to walk towards the still empty TSA checkpoint._

_“Chloe! Chloe, please! Please come back!” Beca called out, still standing in the middle of the terminal walkway, her tears having turned to strangled sobs, arms still tightly wrapped around herself, now to keep herself from coming apart at the seams. She saw Chloe’s shoulders tense as she heard Beca call out to her, but she kept walking towards the roped off area without so much as a twitch indicating she was going to turn around. As Beca watched her hand her ticket and boarding pass to the TSA agent, she knew she was watching her love, her redhead, her Chloe walk away for the last time, and there was nothing she could do to stop her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So if you are still with me, you pretty much deserve a medal! I know this chapter hurt but it will get better very soon I promise! So, like it? Hate it? Want to see something specific happen? Let me know! I love hearing what you awesome nerds think!!   
> Side note the song Beca sings to Chloe is “Is there somewhere” by Halsey.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hi again everybody. I hope this chapter finds all of you awesome nerds well!! So has everybody recovered from the last chapter at this point? Because honestly I still haven’t. lol This chapter should help a bit with that though. I wanted to get this chapter out as quickly as possible for you guys to help ease the hurt! We start off in a flashback again but quickly move into real time.   
> Side note, anything in italics are flash backs and anything underlined is a text message. So… Here we go.   
> Disclaimer: Nope, I still don’t own the rights to Pitch Perfect 1 or 2 or any of the characters therein. (If I somehow acquire them you’ll know when Bechloe becomes cannon!)

_After Chloe had left, Beca had sent text after text apologizing for the hurt she had caused Chloe and telling her how much she loved her. When the texts continued to go unanswered, she started sending emails telling Chloe, she knew how stupid she had been and how sorry she was. With no response to her emails she tried calling, but every call went to voicemail, and even though Beca spent so much time crying to the recording of Chloe’s voice, all the calls and voicemails went, just like the texts and emails, unanswered._

_Beca tried a last ditch effort and wrote Chloe a ten page letter, once again apologizing and saying how stupid she was, and promising that if Chloe would just give her one more chance she would make sure that she never felt unappreciated or unloved again, ever. Beca also included a mix that she had spent three weeks working and reworking that, she hoped, would help get her message across. She packaged it all up and sent it to Chloe._

_When the package came back unopened, with return to sender written on the front of it, in Chloe’s own loopy handwriting, Beca finally gave in to defeat. She sat down at her dining room table, in the chair the redhead had been sitting in, having dinner with her, only a few months before, and sent one last text to Chloe._

_ Chloe, I will never have words to be able to tell you properly how sorry I am that I hurt you like I did or how much I love you. I understand that you don’t want to talk to me or see me anymore, and even though it kills me, I can’t even say that I blame you. I’m just writing to let you know that even though you may not believe it I love you more than my own life, you are and will always remain, the most important person in my world. I also want you to know that I respect your decision and I will stop trying to contact you. Beca _

_A moment later Beca’s phone chimed, terrible timing, she thought as she looked at the screen to see who had text her. When she saw Chloe’s name on the screen she quickly swiped the screen to unlock it, her hands shaking, and she stared at the two word message she had received._

_ Thank you _

_All through Beca’s teenage and adult years she had maintained a snarky exterior, showing little emotion, acting like nothing phased her, but the truth was she felt everything. Every slight, every sideways look, every little hurt, and even every little joy. She analyzed and internalized every one of them, she had never understood the concept of feeling numb when she felt everything so acutely. She never could even imagine not feeling, but sitting there at her table, staring at the two words that had, in an instant, shattered the last piece of sanity she had been grasping onto for dear life, she finally understood. She felt like her heart had been removed, like the part of her brain that processed feelings had suddenly died, where music, passion, fear, anger and love had once danced inside of her, there was now only white noise. Beca sat there for what could have been minutes or hours or even days, she didn’t know. She couldn’t feel, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t move._

_Eventually though Beca did move. She got up and went through the motions of her day. She brushed her teeth and her hair, she lunched, she smiled pretty for clients, she signed paperwork and negotiated contracts, she opened clubs and appeared at movie premiers, she laughed at jokes interviewers told and posed for pictures with fans, she did everything that was expected of her._

_As she moved through her days on autopilot Beca found, much to her own surprise, that it got easier and easier. The longer she just kept moving the easier the smiles and the laughter became, the easier living her life became. She had even started to feel things again, small things at first, a slight warm feeling that was similar to what she remembered happiness feeling like, when her assistant Jenifer, surprised her by ordering her favorite pizza for a lunch meeting. A fleeting feeling of something that felt like disappointment, when a contract that she had been negotiating with a very promising new artist had fallen through. Even something that felt vaguely familiar to love when Emily came into town to visit her. Beca knew she wasn’t better and suspected she never would be, completely, but the things that she was feeling after almost two full years of nothingness, made her actually feel something that might have been similar to what she would have once called hope._

* * *

 

A short chime on Beca’s cell phone brought her out of her thoughts and back to reality. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, she didn’t recall when she had started crying but any time she spent thinking about the last time she had seen Chloe and the years that had followed this was how it ended. The badass, Beca Mitchell once again reduced to tears over the one and only person she had ever truly been in love with and had lost due to her own stupidity.

But, Beca thought to herself, today was going to be a good day, the best day she had had in a long time.

_A week before, Beca had gotten an email forwarded to her, from her assistant Jenifer, with a note asking what should be done about it. The email was from a teacher at a performing arts grade school not too terribly far from the studio. The teacher had asked if it would be possible to schedule a time to bring her class on a little field trip to Red Industries, which was not an issue. The studio had classes come through all the time, to tour the facilities, see the inner workings of a record label and also see firsthand, the job of a music producer. The issue that Jenifer needed approval on was that the teacher had specifically asked if the famous DJ Blue could take a moment out of her day to speak to the class about not only being a producer but also starting her own label at the age of twenty three. Beca was just about to reply to Jenifer and ask that she send an email back to the teacher saying that she was flattered but didn’t think she would be able to fit a personal meeting like that into her schedule when she got to the closing of the email. It read, Thank you for your time, Miss C. Beale._

_Beca’s heart seemed to stop as time slowed down and she felt a wave of emotions crash over her, true, real emotions that she hadn’t felt in so long. She looked over at the picture she still kept on her desk of her and Chloe in Copenhagen and quickly sent back an email to Jenifer saying that she should agree to the request and schedule the tour as soon as possible, in addition Beca would guide the tour herself._

The tour was today.

* * *

At the office Beca sat at her desk staring yet again at the picture of her and Chloe. She wondered what had happened to Chloe in the last three years. From what she knew from the last time she had seen her, Chloe should have graduated with her MBA last year. How had she gone from a business track to a grade school teacher? Had she actually changed her major? Why did she make such a drastic change? Was she back to her old self? Beca supposed that if she was working with grade-schoolers, she would have to be. Beca thought that she would have to ask her when she saw her. When she saw her… Beca had never heard such beautiful words in her entire life. She was about to see Chloe Beale, her redhead, her Chloe, at Chloe’s own request no less.

Beca heard someone clear their throat somewhere in her office and she looked up. There stood Jenifer looking at her very strangely.

“Beca, are you alright?”

“Yes…” Beca said, not sure why Jenifer was looking at her like she had grown a second head or tentacles. “Why?”

“It’s just… You were bouncing.”

“Bouncing?” Beca asked confused.

“Yeah in your chair, you were bouncing up and down, like a kid I saw in the mall once in a stroller who was drinking a can of Mountain Dew.”

Beca Laughed, a genuine laugh. It felt good.

“Huh. Well I was probably bouncing for the same reason as that kid, I hit the coffee pot early and hard this morning.”

Jenifer smiled. “Well even if you are a little spastic, it’s good to see you in a good mood.”

Jenifer had been Beca’s assistant since she had started the label. Jenifer didn’t know about the situation with Chloe specifically but she did notice the changes in Beca that started three years ago and was very glad to see her boss joking and laughing almost like she had when she had first met her.

Beca laughed again. “Spastic, huh? Remind me you said that when your yearly review comes up.”

“Sure, I’ll put a note in my calendar to do just that.” Jenifer mimed writing in the air. “I just wanted to run over for your schedule for the day if you have a second.”

Beca sobered a bit at the mention of business but the sparkle in her eye and the hint of a smile on her lips was still there. “Sure, shoot.”

Jenifer pulled a finger gun and made a pew sound at Beca, which sent her into a small fit of giggles. Jenifer smiled, the finger gun routine hadn’t worked in a long time. Jenifer had learned early on, that despite the hard exterior, sometimes Beca was as easy to entertain as a two year old.

Beca nodded for Jenifer to go ahead as her giggles died down.

Jenifer started reading from the planner in her hands “Ok, so first you have the tour with Miss Beale and the munchkins. Wouldn’t that be an awesome band name?” Jenifer asked, getting side tracked.

Which started Beca’s giggles over again.

“Yeah it would. Maybe I’ll pitch it to them.” Beca said, “Hey, we could sign them.”

It was Jenifer’s turn to get the giggles, Beca was really in rare form today.

“Sure I’ll type up a contract so you can have it on hand.” Jenifer said breathy, in between giggles. “Think we can pay the kids in popsicles?” Both women had to stop for a moment to collect themselves, as their giggles hit a fever pitch and then slowly died down before Jenifer finally was able to continue. ”Then you have lunch with Pink to discuss her new album, then you have the meeting with the reps from the new PR firm we’re looking at, and finally there is a quick staff meeting just before the end of the day, that you don’t necessarily have to attend but it wouldn’t be a bad idea since you haven’t been to one in a while.”

Beca nodded her head all through Jenifer’s speech about her schedule, she looked like she was paying attention, and she really was trying but even with all her effort, all she could think about was Miss Beale.

The phone on Beca’s desk dinged and Beca pressed the button to activate the intercom.

“Ms. Mitchell?” Her receptionist’s voice came clearly through the phone.

“What can I help you with Ms. Roland?” Beca responded

“Ms. Beale and her class are here, I’ve asked them to wait in the conference room.”

Beca’s office had gotten a big upgrade when they moved to their new building a year and a half ago. What was once just a regular office down a non-descript hallway was now the entire top floor of the building, with its own studio, conference room and refreshment area. Of all the things Beca could complain about her career was not one of them.

“Thank you, Ms. Roland. I’ll be right out.”

The intercom clicked as it disconnected, and Beca stood adjusting her suit jacket, and said to Jenifer.

“Well, wish me luck.”

Jenifer looked back at Beca confused. “With what exactly?”

Beca stopped for a second, not knowing how to respond without spilling everything about the last three years of her life, when an idea came to her.

“With the Miss Beale and the munchkins angle of course.” Beca said like it should have been obvious.

This sent Jenifer back into a fit of giggles, Beca grinned at her as she started to walk to the door. As Beca walked by, Jenifer wacked her playfully in the arm with the planner she was holding and said.

“Go get ‘em tiger!”

* * *

 

 

Beca made a quick stop to pick up the tour itinerary from Ms. Roland, she had never actually given a structured tour of her own studio before and she wanted to make sure it was great, so she had gotten a copy of the itinerary her official tour guides used sent up to her office.

Beca walked down the short hallway to her personal conference room, she stood at the last corner, hiding for just a moment from the view of the room, and took a deep breath. This was it.

Beca steeled herself and took the step that brought the conference room into her view. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw her standing in the glass walled room, a mix of sadness, love, and overwhelming joy flooding Beca. There she stood with her back to the door fifteen seven year olds sitting on the floor in front of her, they all looked to be singing a song.

Beca took a moment to look at her. Her hair was lighter than Beca had ever seen it, almost more of a strawberry blonde that a red, her once proud, broad shoulders were more slumped and almost looked smaller than Beca remembered. Beca was suddenly overcome with the hope that the last three years hadn’t been as hard on the woman standing in front of the children as they had been on herself.

Beca didn’t even realize she had started moving, until she felt herself pulling the door open. She walked up behind the strawberry blonde and put her hand on her shoulder.

“Chloe?” Beca said trying so hard not to let all of the emotions she had been denying herself over the last three years come pouring out in that one word.

The woman jumped a bit at the unexpected touch and turned around. Beca was suddenly met with the most crystal clear green eyes she had ever seen.

“Oh, no. I’m sorry, it’s Christine.” The woman, who was very much not Chloe, standing before her, said.

Beca pulled her hand away as if she had been burned.

“Oh, I’m… I’m… s… sorry, I knew a… uh… Chl… Chloe Beale once, you look… very similar, I thought you… were her.” Beca word vomited at the woman

“Oh no problem, C. Beale is pretty common, I get that a lot.” The woman said. She looked at Beca for a moment and spoke up again concern tinting her soft voice. “Are you ok? You look a little green.”  

“No, I mean yes... Yes I’m fine thank you. I apologize, would you excuse me for just a moment?”

“Of course” Christine Beale said to Beca’s already retreating back.

Beca stumbled out of the conference room and down the hall to the bathrooms, she almost fell through the door before locking it, putting her back against it and sliding down onto the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms securely around her knees. Of course it wasn’t Chloe. Chloe hates you and never wants to see you again, you idiot. Beca thought, berating herself. She pulled her phone out and sent a quick text to Jenifer.

I’m not feeling well all of a sudden, can you get someone from tours up here to take the class around and schedule a time for me to go to their school to speak with them?

Jenifer’s response came quickly.

Sure I’ll take care of it. Where r u? U ok? Need anything? 

Beca typed out one more, quick, message before putting her phone back in her pocket.

In the bathroom by the conference room. I’ll be ok, don’t need anything. Thank you. 

The white noise was back in Beca’s head, or was it her chest, even though nothing had changed at all, other than Beca reading too much into something she shouldn’t have. Beca couldn’t help but feel that she was now more out of options than she had been before.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there on the bathroom floor, but she knew it had been a while when she stood up and the muscles in her legs and arms started to cramp from disuse and holding herself so tightly.

After working out some of the tension from her muscles, she pulled her cell phone out and checked the time. It was 11:30 AM, she had a half an hour before her meeting with Pink. She walked down the hall passing by Jenifer’s desk in what Beca used to call her pre-office office. As Beca walked by, Jenifer jumped up to follow her.

As Beca sat down in her chair she glanced over at the picture of her and Chloe. She was vaguely aware of a voice but it sounded far away.

“Beca!” Jenifer called exasperatedly.

“What?” Beca said finally being brought out of her fog. “Sorry, Jen. What’s up?”

“Are you sure you’re alright? You were walking around like a zombie for a second there, I was concerned there was an outbreak or something.” Jenifer said concerned but still trying to bring Beca back to the silly mood she had been in earlier.

Beca gave an empty chuckle out of instinct, easily falling back into the routine she had been in for the last three years.

“Yeah honestly I’m fine, I think all the coffee just finally caught up with my stomach.”

Jenifer, knowing that Beca was prone to having a finicky stomach, especially when it came to drinking too much coffee, accepted the explanation and spoke again.

“Ok, well let me know if you need an antacid or something, I have some in my desk.” 

“Thanks.”

“No problem” Jenifer said turning to leave Beca’s office but stopping just short of the door. “Oh, I almost forgot what I actually came in here to tell you. Pink called and she’s not going to be able to make it to lunch. She asked if she could reschedule for next Thursday and I set the meeting with Ms. Beale’s class up for two weeks from next Wednesday.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Thank you.” Beca said, not really having any idea if it was fine or not.

“Ok good. Well you’re free until the meeting at 2:30 with the new PR firm. You want me to order you some lunch?”

“Yeah that’d be great, maybe just a sandwich or something.” Beca wasn’t sure she had ever been as not hungry as she was at this moment but she also knew she had skipped breakfast, and her body didn’t do well on no food.

“OK no problem” Jenifer said before giving her boss one last concerned look and walking out of her office.

* * *

 

It was now 2:15 PM and Beca was as ready for this meeting as she was ever going to be. She had eaten a quarter of the sandwich that Jenifer had ordered for her, done a little bit of paper work, and spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the picture of her and Chloe on her desk, while asking herself why. She wasn’t even sure what exactly she wanted to know the why of, just why.

The phone on Beca’s desk dinged and she automatically hit the intercom button.

“Ms. Mitchell?” Ms. Roland’s voice came through the speaker.

“Yes Ms. Roland?”

“Your two thirty is here.”

“Thank you Ms. Roland.”

Beca was out of it, she wanted to get this meeting over quickly, go home, get in bed, pull the covers up over her head and forget this day ever happened. She got up from her desk and walked through her pre-office stopping at Jenifer’s desk.

“Ready?” Beca asked

“Yep.” Jenifer said grabbing her tablet and stylus off her desk. 

Beca and Jenifer walked together in comfortable silence the short way to the conference room. As they entered Beca was vaguely aware of two people in black suits in the room. She began the practiced greeting that she was pretty sure she could deliver in her sleep.

“Good afternoon, I’m Ms. Mitchell owner and CEO of Red Industries and this is my executive assistant Ms. Frame.” Beca purposefully left first names out of it to keep the tone of the meeting as professional as possible.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Mitchell I’m Mr. Ronson executive partner of Musicality and this is Ms. Beal one of our junior partners. If our companies end up working together she will be the one in charge of your account and your main point of contact with our firm.”

As Beca was shaking Mr. Ronson’s hand she was screaming in her head. Holy mother of God, Lady Fate! What did I do to you? Two Beale’s in one day? I don’t know who pissed in your Wheaties this morning, but I swear to God it wasn’t me.

Beca reached out automatically to shake Ms. Beale’s hand and make a quick polite glance at her face, just to seem pleasant, she didn’t particularly care what the woman looked like or even what she had to say for that matter. Jenifer would take notes and give her a recommendation on the company later. Jen had been doing that a lot over the past three years and Beca made a mental note to give her a raise and… Beca was stopped mid thought, she had made her causal, pleasant glance at the woman’s face but now, instead of looking away and retreating into her head for the duration of the meeting, as she had planned, she found herself drowning in blue. Crystal clear blue eyes….

“Chloe.” Beca said, wanting to make sure that Chloe was actually standing there in front of her and she hadn’t just suffered a psychotic break. Which honestly with the day Beca had had wouldn’t have surprised her in the least.

“Hello, Beca.” Chloe said with what looked to Beca to be a genuine smile on her face. Not the smile that Beca had fallen in love with so many years ago, but not the, oh so average, smile she had seen three years before either.

Mr. Ronson chuckled at the interaction, completely oblivious to Beca’s turmoil.

“I understand you two went to college together.”

Beca had let go of Chloe’s hand and moved to sit in her usual spot at the head of the table, trying her best not to look too stricken, but also trying to not to take her eyes off Chloe. Which surprisingly only resulted in a banged hip and a stubbed toe, both of which Beca barely noticed.

“Yeah we went to Barden, in Atlanta. We were in an acapella group.” Beca said trying desperately, and failing, to not sound as dumb as she felt.

“Oh, Chloe’s told me all about it.” Mr. Ronson said smiling and looking between the two women. “Seeing as we seem to be going with first names now, I’m James, by the way.” He said almost as a side note. “Your history is honestly why, when Chloe asked to be assigned to this project, we jumped at the opportunity. We always strive to build a great relationship with our clients and here we had a prebuilt one.” James laughed loudly at his own joke. Chloe chuckled and Beca made a sound similar to what it might sound like if someone was trying to strangle one of those cheesy 90’s sitcoms laugh tracks.

“You asked to be assigned to this project?” Beca asked after a moment, speaking directly to Chloe.

Chloe didn’t seem to be having the same dumbstruck issues that Beca was, but it didn’t escape Beca that Chloe hadn’t looked away either.

“Yes, I did.” Chloe said tentatively. “I thought it would be nice to work with you again. We always made a great team.” Chloe finished a bit stronger and with a slight glimmer in her eye.

Beca wasn’t sure if there was actually more meaning to Chloe’s words than what was on the surface but she didn’t particularly care at the moment. Chloe was here, really here, not an imagining, not a dream, but real life flesh and bone. Chloe didn’t seem that different from the last time Beca had seen her but just the fact that she was here, of her own volition, at her own request, had to mean something. Didn’t it?

“Yeah we did.” Beca said smiling a tentative smile. She knew she was treating Chloe like a bomb that could go off at any moment, but she didn’t care. Beca had been given a second, or was it third at this point, chance she didn’t deserve, not to mention never thought she’d get, and she was going to make sure to do everything right this time.

Taking Beca’s response for a go ahead, James went into his presentation about what his company could do for Red Industries. Beca didn’t even pretend to listen, he could have said that they fully intended to run her company into the ground and personally destroy her brick by brick and she still would have hired them, as long as it gave her time to spend with Chloe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So how’s that for a ray of light at the end of the tunnel? I hope this helped with all the feels I left you with last time! It’s only (mostly) uphill from here.   
> Thank you all for the reviews, it always makes my day hearing from you guys! Reviews/bitches/comments/suggestions? Leave ‘em in the box. :-) Also for anyone interested, you can follow me on tumblr at the-breaths-of-chloe, for lots more Bechloe related madness. :-)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hi! So I have recently been forced to become a functioning member of society, and seeing as ”fanfic writer” doesn’t look so hot on a resume (or pay much lol) I have had to get a real job, which sadly has cut down on my writing time. Apparently when you are gainfully employed you actually need to use nights to sleep sometimes…who knew? :-) So updates may take a bit longer than before but I’ll still try to get them out as soon as humanly possible!  
> Side note, on a length scale of one to a Steven King novel this chapter was going to be about a 7 so I’ve split it up into two separate chapters.  
> Disclaimer: You all know the drill at this point. I don’t own anything except most of the story line, and probably never will. (Sadly!)

Beca was walking circles around the large conference table. Jenifer was talking about all the different PR firms they had interviewed, comparing and contrasting the benefits and draw backs of each one. Beca, was not listening. 

She stopped her pacing in front of the big window that took up one whole wall and looked out over Los Angeles. When she noticed Jenifer had stopped talking and was waiting for her input she said

“I want to hire Musicality.”

Jenifer look at her bewildered, “Beca, did you seriously not hear anything I just said?”

“Of course I heard you.” Beca lied

“If you heard me then you know that Musicality is the newest firm we’ve interviewed which means they aren’t nearly as well established in the industry as some of the others, plus they are the third most expensive firm we’ve interviewed. Musicality is the second to last on my list of recommendations, the only company actually worse than them is the one who sent that creepy rep that talked to your boobs for the entire meeting.” Jenifer explained.

“I still want to go with them. I feel like they can give us things that none of the other firms can.” Beca said simply.

“What, like that redhead?” Jenifer asked her frustration coming out as full on snark. Jenifer knew Beca was a lesbian, but she had never seen her boss be so swayed by a pretty face, granted the redhead was gorgeous but making a business decision this large based on an old college crush, which is what Jenifer assumed was going on due to the fact that Beca had stared at the woman like a love sick teenager throughout the entirety of the meeting, was a terrible idea.

Beca spun on her heel to face Jenifer. “Excuse me?” She spat at her assistant, her eyes murderous, and her voice dripping with venom.

Jenifer realized she had crossed some line she didn’t know existed, so she tried to explain in a way that wouldn’t make her little boss throw her **through** the window. Which is exactly what Beca’s face was saying she wanted to do at the moment.

“Look Beca, this woman Ms. Bales.”

“Beale” Beca quickly and sharply corrected.

“Right, Ms. Beale.” Jenifer corrected putting her hands up trying to show that she meant no disrespect “I realize you guys have history, but just because she’s an old college friend is no reason to make an unsound, uninformed business decision, and that is exactly what you are doing if you go with this company.”

Beca looked at her assistant, she knew Jenifer was probably right. In the past three years Beca had taken her advice on almost every big decision that had to be made and it always proved to be the best choice, but this time, this time she couldn’t, and even though, logically, she knew it wasn’t what was actually happening in any way, a part of her was angry at Jenifer for trying to keep her and Chloe apart.

“Hire them. I want a copy of the contract on my desk before close of business today.” Beca said coldly before turning to walk out of the conference room, leaving a very frustrated and confused Jenifer behind.

Usually Beca and Jenifer had more of a friendly relationship than a business one. They would crack jokes and give each other a hard time and even argue at times about decisions to be made, it was just their way of communicating. On the rare occasions that Beca did make it known that she was the boss, Jenifer knew to just shut up and do as she was told, even if she didn’t agree with what Beca was doing, and watching Beca storm angrily out of the conference room it was clear to Jenifer that this was one of those times.

 

* * *

 

The proposed contract between Red Industries and Musicality had in fact been on her desk an hour before the close of business, another copy having been couriered over to the other company. Laid out in the contract were the specifics of the arrangement. Most of it was fairly boring, fees, time tables, divisions of responsibilities and things of the like but, one thing had grabbed Beca’s attention as she was going through it was that the Musicality rep would maintain an onsite office at Red Industries where they would perform most of their duties. Chloe was going to be taking up almost permanent residence in Beca’s building.

Beca’s head was reeling at the thought. There was a mixture of so many feelings flooding her brain but the two most prominent were excitement and fear. Excitement at finally getting her chance to make things right with Chloe and fear because she honestly had no idea what Chloe was wanting out of this reunion, or if she was wanting anything at all.

She could just be using me to try and land a huge client for her company, was the thought that came springing into Beca’s head, but she pushed the idea away quickly. “Chloe wouldn’t do that.”

“Chloe wouldn’t do what?” Jenifer’s voice came from near the door.

Beca not realizing Jenifer had come into her office or that she had been thinking out loud, let out a startled yelp.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I said hi when I walked in but I guess you didn’t hear me.” Jenifer said trying to hide a smirk at Beca’s outburst.

“No I didn’t, sorry. I guess I was lost in my head.”

“Yeah... That’s been happening a lot lately.” Jenifer said sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Beca’s desk.

“Yeah I guess it has.” Beca said, honestly wanting to tell Jenifer everything that had happened over the last three years, and get her take on how she should handle things now, even though she was still a little peeved at her for her comment earlier.

Beca considered Jenifer a friend, probably one of her closest. She had never steered Beca wrong in her professional life and in the rare times when Beca would come to her with a personal issue, she almost always had told her exactly what she needed to hear to sort the situation out, but Beca thought, this was neither the time nor the place for a conversation like that.

“Woo-hoo! Earth to Captain Beca.”

“What? Sorry, I was doing it again, wasn’t I?”

“Yep, you were. S’ok though. Listen, the reason I came in here was to apologize for earlier. I shouldn’t have implied that you wanting to hire Musicality had anything to do with that red…” Jenifer stopped as Beca shot her a look that was very much less than pleasant. “Ms. Beale.” She finished.

Beca softened visibly, Jenifer was one of the few people in Beca’s life that was always in her court and she was honestly tired of being mad at her.

“No worries.” Beca said and with a sigh and added “You weren’t entirely wrong anyway.”

Jenifer nodded “I know.”

“What?” Beca said confused “You just apologized for thinking that she had anything to do with my decision and now you say you knew she did?”

“No. I apologized for saying it, not for thinking it. I make no apologies for the things that go on in my head. Especially when I know I’m right.”

At that Beca couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know what to do with you sometimes Frame.”

Jenifer liked it when Beca laughed. It always reminded her of the determined, fire eyed twenty three year old she had interviewed with four years ago, who had taken a chance on her even though she was just out of college and had never worked a day in her life.

“I think you mean you don’t know what you’d do without me Mitchell.” Jenifer laughed as well.

“Well that’s a given.” Beca said smiling.

“Which is also a small monkey.” Jenifer said making Beca groan at the bad pun.

The two women were silent for a moment.

“So what is the deal with Ms. Beale?” Jenifer asked hesitantly, she had seen Beca freak out over less personal questions before, but usually not with her. Plus she honestly wanted to know, especially since it seemed she was going to be working fairly closely with the woman for the foreseeable future.

“That’s seems to be the question of the day.” Beca said being purposefully obtuse.

"Doesn’t it though?” Jenifer said pining Beca with a direct stare wordlessly letting her boss and friend know that she wasn’t going to let it go without a real answer.

Beca sighed. “Let’s just say that there’s more history there than just being old college friends.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Jenifer said, relaxing more now that she was pretty sure Beca wouldn’t explode at the personal intrusion “Anyone with a half working pair of eyes could have told me that.”

Beca groaned, she didn’t realize it had been quite that obvious. Seeing the determined look on Jenifer’s face Beca knew she wasn’t getting out of this easy so she covered her eyes and blurted out “She was my first love.”

Beca was expecting a snarky comment or at least an “oh, well that makes sense.” but all she got was silence. Beca dropped her hands and opened her eyes. The shock was evident in the slack jaw and wide eyes that Jenifer was sporting.

“HOLY SHIT!” Jenifer shouted out of nowhere, surprising Beca and making her flinch at the loudness of her voice, “I was expecting old college crush, or former best friend or roommate gone wrong or something, but first love? That’s some serious business!” Jenifer said still wide eyed. She thought for a moment before adding “So did you two actually date or?”

“No we were never together.” Beca said, “it’s a very long dramatic story that I really don’t want to get into right now, but the short version is we were best friends, she went off to grad school, I came out here to start the label and time and distance did what they do best.” Beca knew it wasn’t the full truth but one of the last things she wanted was to tell the whole story and become a balling mess.

“Wow!” Jenifer said taking a few moments to process all the information “How long has it been since you two have seen each other?” She asked genuinely curious, thinking the whole idea of the two of them being reunited unexpectedly was actually kind of sweet.

“Three years.” Beca said simply.

“Wow, Three years? That’s a long time!” Jenifer stopped, it was like the last cylinder of a lock finally clicking into place. She knew Beca wasn’t telling her even half of the whole story, and she also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the “time made us grow apart” line was total bullshit.  

Three years ago was when Beca had changed, pretty much overnight. One day they had been laughing and talking like always and the next she had come into the office more depressed and devastated than Jenifer had ever seen anyone. It was like the fire in her eyes had been put out, like someone had taken the small woman, who always seemed much bigger than she actually was just because of the way she carried herself and her I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-you-or-anyone-else-thinks attitude, and replaced her with a lost toddler who just wanted their mommy and a nap. She also felt a sudden and strange protectiveness towards her boss, she had always been a little protective, simply because of her genuine fondness for the woman and also being so grateful of the chance Beca had taken on her, but now she wanted to take on anyone who would dare to hurt her, anyone who **ever had** dared hurt her.

“Woo-hoo! Earth to first mate Jen!” Beca said using Jenifer’s own line back at her.

Jenifer jumped slightly and forced a laugh. She didn’t find anything about this situation remotely funny or sweet anymore. In fact she was angry. Angry at that redhead “Ms. Beale” for doing whatever horrible thing she had done to Beca all those years ago, and a little pissed at Beca for letting it happen, but she knew she couldn’t let Beca know that. “Sorry.” She said simply

“Who’s getting lost in their head now, huh?” Beca said teasing, she had noticed the change in Jenifer’s expression but figured she was probably just her relating this situation to something or someone in her own life.

“Journeys end in lovers meeting.” Jenifer said suddenly.

“What did you just say?” Beca asked confused, but recognizing the quote from the same movie where she and Chloe had gotten the idea for the stone lions, which to this day still sat on Beca’s mantel piece. 

“Sorry.” Jenifer said again, distractedly, before adding “It’s a quote from an old horror movie called “The…””

“”Haunting.”” Beca said finishing her sentence. “I’ve seen it. It’s one of the few movies I actually like.”

“The quote just seemed appropriate.” Jenifer said quietly

“I hope so.” Beca said smiling

“Hey,” Jenifer said finally returning Beca’s smile and seeming to return to her old self “You wanna go get a drink.”

Feeling a lot better after her and Jenifer’s talk plus not really wanting to go home to be alone with her thoughts just yet Beca said, “That actually sounds really freaking good. We can go to Pete’s it’s within walking distance.”

“Hanging out at a bar you own? Mitchell you little megalomaniac, you!”

Beca laughed “Hey, I may own it but it’s not exactly my scene, therefore it’s just about the only bar or club in town where nobody knows or cares about DJ Blue. Plus its karaoke night.” Beca added with a shrug.

Jenifer laughed “The badass Beca “DJ Blue” Mitchell a karaoke fiend? Man I’m just finding out all kinds of juicy secrets tonight.”

Beca gave Jenifer a mock frown, “Remind me to write a confidentiality clause into your next contract. You know entirely too much!” Beca said her frown finally breaking and laughing along with Jenifer.

“Sure, I’ll put a note in my calendar to do just that.” Jenifer said and mimed writing in the air for the second time that day.

* * *

 

The walk to Pete’s was fun but entirely uneventful. Both Beca and Jenifer deciding without actually discussing it to keep the tone of the conversation light.

They walked into Pete’s to find it was packed and dark. The few lights that were on, were either pointing directly at the empty stage or over the bar. Beca had been here many times since she had bought the place two years ago, and always liked the effect, it afforded anyone who wanted it a great deal of anonymity. After getting drinks and playing wallflower for a few minutes they finally saw a small open table in a back corner and grabbed it before anyone else could.

They had been there almost an half an hour drinking and laughing before Karaoke finally started. They both turned to look at the stage, knowing that with the crowd screaming, and the noise levels from the music and the singers it was useless to try and talk anymore.

Ten singers in and Beca and Jenifer’s stomachs both hurt from laughing so hard. That was another reason Beca liked this place, the singers were usually awful. Beca and music had always had a strange relationship, she loved good singers, she loved good music but there were few things funnier to her than someone who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, and was usually drunk, trying to sing typical karaoke songs. They had already heard “Earl Had to Die” twice, three different Garth Brooks songs one of them twice, and at least four different Pink songs, all done ear splittingly bad. 

As the DJ, if you could even really call him that, Beca thought, started to announce that the next song would be his. Jenifer screamed into Beca’s ear a little louder than she meant to, as she was slightly drunk at this point and wanted to make sure Beca heard her “HEY, YOU WANT ANOTHER DRINK?”

“Ahhh!” Beca yelled and pulled away quickly, thinking that this had to be what it would feel like if it was possible to get punched in the ear drum.

“Sorry” Jenifer mouthed when Beca turned to look at her still rubbing her ear. She then held up Beca’s empty glass, shrugged her shoulders and pointed at Beca trying to get her message across without having to yell again. Beca just laughed and nodded. With that Jenifer was up with both glasses in hand making her way through the sea of people to the bar.

Beca pulled out her phone, deciding to use the time alone to check her emails and social networking accounts. The karaoke DJ who was not a terribly good singer, but by far the best she had heard all night was up, signaling the next round of karaoke singers was about to begin.

As the DJ finished his song Jenifer walked up to the table, tripping at the last second and sloshing most of Beca’s drink into her lap.

“Shit, Cold!” Beca cried out as she jumped up.

“Oh God, I’m sorry Beca. I’ll go get some napkins or something!” Jenifer said, flustered, as she turned to head back to the bar.

“Thank you.” Beca called out to Jenifer’s quickly retreating back. She wasn’t mad and didn’t even care about her clothes staining or anything like that, but there was something very uncomfortable about having half an ice cold gin martini in one’s crotch. She hoped the napkins would help.

The intro to a song was playing. Beca hadn’t heard the next singer get announced and honestly didn’t really care much about what was going on, on the stage at the moment. Until she heard it. She didn’t even need to look at the stage to know who she would see there. The soft soprano that had haunted almost every one of her moments, waking and sleeping, for the last three years was pouring out of the speakers in the bar causing everyone in the rowdy crowd to stop what they were doing, turn to the stage and watch, transfixed.

Beca knew the song. It was called “Inevitable”. It had been one of her favorites in college, she wondered if Chloe actually remembered that. Was it possible Chloe was actually singing it for her? Did Chloe know she was here?

Beca turned to look at the stage the cold alcohol in her pants forgotten for the moment. Chloe looked, as cheesy as it sounded, like an angel. The stage lights made her red hair, now back to something similar to the way she had worn it in college, had she changed it after the meeting this afternoon Beca wondered absently, look like it was a halo of fire. She was dressed in jeans and a blue tank top that made the already impossibly bright blue of her eyes even brighter.

Beca’s breath caught in her throat as Chloe started to sing the second verse and a tear slipped down her cheek its shiny path illuminated by the stage lights. Beca felt like she and Chloe were the only two people in the room, and she could feel the words Chloe sang like they had become the beat of her heart.

Amazing how life turns out the way that it does

We end up hurting the worst, the only ones we really love

 

I wanna break every clock

The hands of time could never move again

We could stay in this moment

For the rest of our lives

Is it over now hey, hey, is it over now

 

I wanna be your last, first kiss

That you'll ever have

I wanna be your last, first kiss

 

Is it over now hey, hey, is it over now

Is it over how hey, hey, it's not over now

 

I wanna be your last, first kiss

That you'll ever have

I wanna be your last, first love

Till you're lying here beside me with arms and eyes open wide

I wanna be your last, first kiss for all time

 

As Chloe sang the last words and put the mic back into its stand, the bar exploded with noise. Everyone was on their feet, either screaming, clapping or whistling, some seeming to do all three at once. The noise brought Beca back into reality and all the emotions she had been feeling before her talk with Jenifer had come crashing back down on her with a vengeance, she felt like she might drown. In that moment she wanted to see Chloe more than she ever had, she wanted to push every person separating them out of the way until she was in the woman’s arms and then she wanted to stay there forever but Chloe had just come back into her life. They had barely said five words to each other, there was no way if Beca wanted any chance to make things right she could simply walk up to her and start talking about forever, and in her current state there was no way she could see her and not talk about forever, because even if she didn’t know it, Chloe was Beca’s forever. For better or worse.

Beca stood there torn between what she wanted to do and what she knew she shouldn’t do, she wobbled a bit on her feet just before she felt a hand on her shoulder steading her. She turned to see Jenifer standing there looking concerned. Jenifer said something but Beca couldn’t hear her over the cheers and applause that were still going on, so she pointed to her ear and shrugged. Jenifer pointed to the door and Beca nodded. They walked out together, finally in the relative silence of outside Jenifer asked

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” Beca said, not being entirely sure it was the truth. “Why?”

“You were crying.” Jenifer said gently

Beca reached up and touched her own cheek. She was a bit surprised when she found that it actually was wet. She didn’t remember crying.

“Oh that.” Beca said trying to sound steadier than she felt. “I just love that song.”

“I’m sure the person singing it had nothing to do with it.” Jenifer said a bit snarkier than she had planned.

Beca gave Jenifer a look that was clearly a warning to watch her step, which earned her a quick,

“Sorry”

“It’s ok.” Beca said. “I’m kinda ragged. Wanna share an Uber?”

“Sure that sounds good.”

Beca pulled out her phone and made quick work of requesting a ride. A large SUV pulled up to the curb a few minutes later, both women got in and gave their addresses. As the car pulled away from the curb they settled in for the ride.

Beca was looking out the window lost in her head again. Jenifer wanted so badly to reach out and comfort her, she didn’t know exactly what was going on in Beca’s head but after all she had learned tonight she knew it couldn’t be good. Sadly she had learned a long time ago that comforting Beca usually only made things worse, so she just sat next to her, quietly watching the street lights pass outside the window.

 

* * *

 

 

Finally at Beca’s apartment she thanked the Uber driver and said a quick goodbye to Jenifer. She rode the elevator up to her penthouse on the top floor of the high rise. She walked in and stood in her living room, she looked over at the mantel piece, at the stone lions and the pictures and sat down on her couch.

She needed to think, she needed to come up with a game plan, she needed at the very least to figure out what exactly she was feeling, but all she could hear in her head was Chloe singing. After a few quiet minutes Beca decided she was getting nowhere and it was time for bed. She went to her room, changed into her favorite pajamas, which consisted of one of Chloe’s old t-shirts that she had stolen her junior year and a pair of blue plaid boxer shorts. She crawled into her king size bed laying square in the middle as had become her habit, pulled the covers up to her nose and closed her eyes, quickly and easily falling asleep to the sound of Chloe’s song on repeat in her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: As always thank you all for the love/suggestions/coments! I really do love hearing what you guys think!! So what do you guys think of Jenifer? I wanted to flesh her out a little bit as she’s going to become more important as we go on. So questions/comments/things you wanna see? Drop me a note in the box! :)
> 
> Side note: The song Chloe sings is Inevitable by Anberlin.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Not really much to say about this chapter other than it is the second half of last chapter and picks up right where we left off. Enjoy! ;)
> 
> Disclaimer: Nope.

Beca woke to the sound of someone pounding on her front door. She was pissed. She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been asleep, she just knew that it was still dark outside and without this very unwelcome interruption she would still be sleeping peacefully.

She got up angrily, and quickly threw her robe on, not bothering to tie it. She walked into her entry way and swung her front door wide, ready to give the rude person on the other side of it a large piece of her mind.

“What the actual…” Beca stopped, frozen to the spot. There stood Chloe leaning against the door frame still in the clothes she had been wearing at the bar.

“Fuck?” Chloe said finishing Beca’s sentence with a raised eyebrow and a gleam in her blue eyes.

Beca usually hated it when Chloe used that word, it always brought back memories of that night in the DJ booth, but tonight there was something about the way she said it, happily maybe with a hint of flirtyness behind it that made things happen in Beca’s body that she had not felt in many years.

“Um… Yeah.” Beca responded at a loss. “Chloe, what are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night. How did you even know where I live?”

“Can I come in?” Chloe said gesturing into Beca’s place.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, not quite awake yet.”

“It’s ok.” Chloe said giggling.

Beca couldn’t help but think she sounded like old Chloe, like the Chloe she fell in love with eight years ago.

“Emily gave me your address.” Chloe said walking into Beca’s living room and straight over to the mantel piece.

Beca followed behind Chloe watching her closely looking for any type of clue as to why she was here at this time of night or how Beca should respond. Once in the living room Beca leaned against the wall as she watched Chloe touch the mane of the first stone lion sitting there.

“How did you get in?” Beca asked, referencing the inner doors that you needed either a key, or a code to get through.

“Emily gave me the code too.” Chloe smiled her thousand gigawatt smile at Beca, and Beca felt her heart melt. This was it, there was no more thinking, no more game plan. This was what she needed. This was her Chloe standing right here in front of her.

Chloe walked the length of the mantel piece looking at all the pictures and finally running her finger down the mane of the second stone lion. She dropped her arm to her side and walked over to Beca slowly.

“You know I never thanked you for those.” Chloe said her voice lower than normal, inching closer to Beca with every word.

Beca licked her lips, her mouth was suddenly as dry as a desert.

“For what?” She said quietly. The way Chloe was walking towards her making her feel like she was being stalked by a panther.

“The stone lions, of course.” Chloe said now inches from Beca’s body

“Oh, you…uh…you’re… welcome.” Beca said dumbly as Chloe stopped in front of her, impossibly close.

Chloe leaned in. Beca felt like her brain was short circuiting as Chloe’s body pressed her against the wall. Their lips barely a hairs breadth away from each other.

“I saw you at the bar tonight.” Chloe said and Beca could feel Chloe’s exhaled breath against her lips.

“Your song was beautiful.” Beca said breathless, feeling like there wasn’t enough air in the room.

“It was for you.” Chloe said looking deeply into Beca’s eyes. “You are inevitable to me Beca. No matter what road I end up on, or how many detours I take, they all lead me back to you. It’s been the only constant in my life.” Chloe glanced down sadly. “Even when I was trying to run from it.” 

“Chloe” Beca said with the reverence of a prayer, whispered to the heavens on the highest of holy days.

That one word was all Chloe needed. She looked back up and closed the distance between them, pressing her lips into Beca’s.

As soon as their lips met, the entire rest of the universe disappeared for Beca. There was nothing but Chloe, the smell of her sandalwood shampoo, the press of her lips, the feel of the heat radiating off her body, the feel of her hands inside Beca’s robe pressing into the small of her back under her t-shirt, the feeling of Chloe’s hips pressing her own back against the wall.

Beca broke the kiss, she wanted this, she needed this, but there was one thing she needed more.

“Chloe, I need to know what you want out of…”

“I love you.” Chloe said simply, cutting Beca off.

Beca blinked slowly. Just like that, with three simple words, three years of pain were gone, she wasn’t sure if she was dying, or truly alive for the first time in her life.

Beca slowly and lightly ran her hands, which had fallen to her sides, up Chloe’s bare arms making the redhead shudder, before gripping her shoulders and spinning them both around and quickly pinning Chloe to the wall with her own body. Their lips met again in a wave of heat and passion.

Chloe was the one to break the kiss this time, she pushed Beca back slightly and looked into her eyes, before saying, her voice husky.

“Bedroom.” The word was both a request and a demand.

The heat behind the word almost made Beca come undone then and there. She grabbed Chloe’s hand and led her down the hall to the master bedroom. Once there, the reality of the situation settling in, she stopped, standing in the middle of the room, unsure. Beca had thought of this moment countless times since she had met Chloe eight years ago, but now that she was actually here, with Chloe standing in front of her, every emotion known to mankind coursing through her body all at once, she didn’t know where to start.

“Beca?” Chloe asked concern overpowering the heat that had been in her voice.

“Hmm?” Beca responded lost in her head for the moment.

Chloe took Beca’s hand gently and kissed the palm, brining Beca back to the moment. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” Her voice sounded sad, but the honesty rang through the sadness.

Beca used the hand Chloe was still holding to cup the woman’s cheek. “No, I do want to… It’s just…”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know where to start. I’ve wanted this for so long. I’ve thought of what would happen if we ever got here so many times… It’s just a little overwhelming I guess.” Beca said finally letting her hand fall, before crossing her arms uneasily over her chest.

Chloe took a step back from Beca and started to walk to the other side of the room as Beca turned to follow her with her eyes. Chloe walked to the side of the bed farthest from the window and sat down. She could feel Beca’s eyes hot on her back as she slipped both her shoes off and laid them neatly on the floor by the side of the bed, she stood back up and reached for the button of her jeans unfastening it, and then unzipping them, she slowly pushed them down her hips, her lacy navy blue boy shorts coming into view.

Beca suddenly felt like she should look away, which she realized was ridiculous. Not only had she seen Chloe’s underthings, not to mention Chloe in her underthings, hundreds of times over the four years they had gone to school as well as lived together, but also because with the situation they were currently in, looking was not only allowed but highly encouraged.

Beca watched Chloe shyly with half lidded eyes as the she pushed her jeans the rest of the way down her perfect legs, agonizingly slowly. She let them pool at her feet before stepping out of them and bending over to pick them up. She straightened them out and laid them over the arm of a chair across from Beca’s bed before turning back to face Beca. Chloe crossed her arms across her body grabbing the hem of her tank top and started to lift it slowly, Beca watched as more and more of the tanned smooth skin of Chloe’s incredibly toned abdomen came into view, followed by a lacy blue bra that matched the dark blue of her boy shorts.  Finally Chloe’s face became visible, just before a flow of red hair obscured it, as she pulled the top over her head and tossed it behind her onto the chair with her jeans.

Chloe pushed her hair back and made eye contact with Beca. She held Beca’s eyes as she laid down on her side on the bed, her head propped up on her hand. Chloe patted the other side of the bed, wordlessly asking Beca to come lay with her.

Beca walked to the side of the bed, pausing briefly to take in the sight before her, Chloe was more beautiful than she had ever seen her, strong yet exposed and somehow, vulnerable. Beca took her robe off and threw it crumpled onto the chair near her side of the bed and laid down on her side, close to, but not touching Chloe, her arm curled under her head. They stayed there like that, looking at each other, for a long moment before Chloe spoke.

“Do you know when I first fell in love with you?” Her tone was soft and open.

“I didn’t know you were in love with me.” Beca said honestly, trying not to tear up as the words she had wanted to hear for so long rang in her head.

Chloe reached up and cupped Beca’s cheek as she leaned in and pressed a feather soft kiss to the smaller woman’s lips. “Of course I am Becs.”

“Chlo… I…”

“Shhhh” Chloe pressed a finger gently to Beca’s lips before continuing. “Do you know when I first fell in love with you?”

“No.” Beca said, honestly having no idea.

“At the activities fair your freshmen year. When I handed you the flyer about auditions, our fingers touched and it felt like there were fireworks going off in my chest, and like I had eaten a colony of live butterflies for lunch.” They both laughed “I had never felt anything like that before, and I knew.”

“Knew what?” Beca asked.

“That you were it for me. That you were my forever.” Chloe finished so quietly, that even in the silent room high above all the ambient noise of the city Beca almost had to strain to hear her.

Beca, closed her eyes, she wanted to tell Chloe everything, spill every last secret and emotion that she had ever had, she wanted to tell her about all the times she had watched her during rehearsals, all the times she had been a breath away from confessing her love. About how the only reason she didn’t was because the thing that scared her worse than anything in the world, was the thought of losing her, and in Beca’s mind there was no way that someone as good and kind and pure as Chloe Beale could ever love her back. Beca knew that if she tried to tell Chloe all those things, it would just come out as a jumbled mess that made no sense, and would probably just end with Chloe holding her while she cried and apologized for being such a coward and while Beca was pretty sure that that would happen at some point in the, probably, near future. That was not, at all, how she wanted tonight to go.

“Hey, talk to me.” Chloe said bringing her hand back up to Beca’s cheek. She knew how easy it was for Beca to get lost in her head.

Beca opened her eyes and looked at Chloe for just an instant before she surged forward and kissed her, pouring every bit of what she wanted to say, of all the emotion, all of the love she had for her redhead into the kiss.

Surprised by the sudden movement Chloe let out a sound that was part yelp and part moan. Beca smiled into the kiss and gently pushed Chloe flat onto her back before breaking the kiss to sit up, straddling Chloe’s hips. Beca took a moment to look down at Chloe, her red hair fanned out around her head on the pillow, her bright blue eyes dilated even more than the darkness in the room warranted, dancing over Beca’s face excitedly, her soft hands resting patiently on Beca’s thighs, she was perfection. Beca pulled her own shirt over her head and threw it across the room, leaving her in only a black sports bra and leaned down very slowly, relishing in the feeling of each new inch of her skin touching Chloe’s, and finally once they were pressed together from hips to chins, whispered against Chloe’s lips. “I am so in love with you Chloe Beale.”

Chloe captured Beca’s lips in a passionate kiss, one of her hands fisting into Beca’s hair, the other exploring the now exposed skin of her back, as she moved her hand her fingers came into contact with fabric. This gave Chloe an idea, she untangled her other hand from Beca’s hair and moved it to join the one on Beca’s back. As the kiss deepened Chloe shifted both her hands to the small of Beca’s back and ran her fingers up lightly, making the woman on top of her shiver, until they came into contact with the band of her sports bra. Chloe pushed the tips of her fingers under the material and started to lift the barrier towards Beca’s shoulders, pausing to wait for her response. Beca hummed her approval into Chloe’s mouth. With the affirmation Chloe pushed the material all the way up and started to bring it over Beca’s head as Beca sat up to help her get it off. Chloe flung the bra in a random direction as Beca’s breasts came into her view.

Beca started to lean down again but Chloe stopped her with a firm hand on her chest.

“No, let me look.” Chloe said her voice low and incredibly sexy, sending shock waves of arousal through Beca’s body.

 Beca didn’t want to be looked at she wanted to be kissing Chloe, but as she saw the redhead bite her bottom lip, pulling it ever so slightly into her mouth, as her eyes traveled over her exposed body she was glad she had followed directions. When Chloe was done looking she slowly started to lean forward making and keeping eye contact with Beca as she rested her hands on Beca’s hips and pulled one of Beca’s nipples into her mouth.

“Oh, God. Chloe, yes!” Beca threw her head back and called out at the sensation that was quickly spreading through her entire body, steading herself with her hands on Chloe’s shoulders. Chloe hummed as she gently bit and teased the sensitive nub before kissing her way across Beca’s chest to give the other side the same treatment. Beca tangled her hands in Chloe’s hair realizing suddenly that the woman underneath her was far too clothed for her liking, she untangled her hands from the red hair she loved so much and slowly ran her hands down Chloe’s back before reaching the clasp of the lacy bra and quickly popping the two hooks free. Chloe gasped, losing contact with Beca’s skin, as she felt her bra being released and slid off her shoulders. Beca took the opportunity to push her down on to her back.

Chloe tried to lean back up, but Beca stopped her.

“My turn to look.” Beca said with a smile taking in the sight of the almost naked woman underneath her. Beca found it almost impossible to look without touching so she brought her hands to the top of Chloe’s head, running her fingers through fiery red locks letting them lazily fall off her fingertips. She brought her hands to Chloe’s face tracing her eyebrows, the outline of her nose, and the path from her nose to her lips. She traced Chloe’s lips as she smiled. Beca leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss at the corner of Chloe’s jaw line, right under her ear, before sitting back up and tracing her jaw line with her finger. Beca ran her hands lightly down Chloe’s neck pressing slightly into her pulse point, drawing a sharp breath out of the woman. She traced her collar bone from one side to the other.

“Beca please.” Chloe said earnestly.

Beca leaned forward again, placing a soft kiss on Chloe’s lips before sitting back up.

“Shhhhh.” Beca said smiling.

Chloe smiled her reluctant acceptance and Beca continued her fingers journey down the smooth skin of Chloe’s chest. When her fingers arrived at Chloe’s breasts she traced the outer edges spiraling up slowly until she was just ghosting against her nipples. Chloe squirmed in anticipation, Beca stilled, earning a whine from the redhead. Beca waited until she was sure Chloe was just about to speak and tweaked her nipples firmly causing the already excited redhead to moan loudly, throw one arm up to brace herself against the headboard and buck her hips up into Beca.

The friction of Chloe’s hips against Beca’s most sensitive areas almost made her come undone. Enough of this, she thought. There were things she wanted to know about Chloe and there was only one way to find them out.

Beca leaned down and captured Chloe’s lips in a searing but brief kiss. Beca then started to make her way down Chloe’s body exploring with her lips and hands. Beca made a quick stop to lightly bite and lick at Chloe’s neck, right over her pulse point.

“Mmm, yes Becs.”

Beca thought she had never heard anything sexier. Beca continued her journey down paying close attention to all the spots she touched or kissed that got a reaction from the redhead, a spot just under her collar bone on the left side, the outer edge of her right breast, a small freckle just above her belly button. Beca committed them all to memory.

Having finally reached the waist band of the lacy blue boy shorts Beca gripped them and started to slowly pull them down, Chloe raised her hips to help the process along. With them almost to her knees Chloe started to get impatient again.

“Beca.” Chloe whined.

“Yes?”

“Please.”

“Please, what?”

“Touch me.”

“Patience love.” Beca said laughing, as Chloe huffed.

With the offending garment out of the way Beca began her way back up Chloe’s legs marking her journey with wet open mouth kisses, starting at her ankles, up her calves, switching sides with every kiss, every touch and kiss drawing a small moan or shiver from Chloe.

Beca had finally made her way up, she was inches away from the juncture of Chloe’s legs, and judging from the redheads reactions and the way she was arching her back and bucking her hips every time Beca so much as breathed on her, she knew Chloe couldn’t take much more teasing, Beca wasn’t honestly sure she could either.

Beca leaned in and brought her hand up, she reached out and touched Chloe feeling the wetness and the heat.

“God. Beca, more please.” Chloe immediately called out, arching her back so high that only the back of her head and her hips were still touching the bed.

That was all Beca needed, she lunged forward her lips connecting with Chloe’s center, her tongue finding its way to the little bundle of nerves that so desperately needed her attention.  Chloe cried out, something that sounded vaguely like it was meant to be words. Beca hooked Chloe’s right leg over her shoulder so she could get as close as possible. She felt hands tangle in her hair and pull her closer, she smiled against Chloe.

“Beca stop!” Chloe cried out suddenly.

Beca stopped and pulled back immediately confused and worried. She wasn’t the most experienced when it came to making love to another woman but she really didn’t think she had done anything wrong.

“What it is Chlo?” Beca asked expecting the worst.

“I don’t want to do this alone.” Chloe said

“Chloe, love, I’m right here. You’re not alone.” Beca said leaning up on her elbow to get a better look at Chloe, hoping that if she could see her face it would help her figure out what was going on.

Chloe chuckled “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then…?”

Chloe cut Beca off, “I want you to come with me.”

“Come where?” Beca said more confused than ever.

Chloe quickly sat up, she slid her hand down Beca’s body until she was cupping her sex. Chloe flexed her fingers making Beca gasp.

“I want you to COME with me.” Chloe said low and husky right in Beca’s ear.

Finally understanding, Beca simply said.

“How?”

“Take your boxers off and turn around, your back toward the headboard.” Chloe watched as Beca did as she was told and then added “Now kneel over my head facing the foot board.”

Beca’s mouth formed a little O shape and it finally dawned on her what exactly was about to happen, she felt like she was about to explode and Chloe hadn’t even really touched her yet. Beca eagerly did as she was told, putting one knee on each side of Chloe’s head being very careful to not kneel on the other woman’s hair, she waited for Chloe to adjust to a comfortable position. When Chloe turned her head and placed a hot wet kiss on her inner thigh Beca leaned down letting her weight settle fully on Chloe.

“Is this ok?” Beca asked.

The answer came in the form of a tongue pressed exactly where Beca needed it most.

“Chloe!” Beca screamed

Chloe hummed and Beca could feel her smile against her as she continued her assault, and then rocked her hips as a gentle reminder of what Beca was supposed to be doing.

Beca took the hint and quickly leaned down picking up where she had left off before Chloe had stopped her.

It wasn’t long before they found their rhythm, tongues and hands moving in time to the music their bodies were making, even if they were the only ones who could hear it.

It wasn’t long until Beca realized she was very close, she tried to push the feeling down for just a minute just long enough for her get Chloe on the same level. Beca upped the pace and the pressure, Chloe responded, but not enough. Beca had an idea, she sped up a tiny bit more and started to hum “Inevitable”. That was it, she felt Chloe’s body tense and start to shake under her. The feeling of Chloe’s tongue and hands on her and of Chloe coming undone underneath her sent Beca over the edge just a moment later. Both their rhythms became chaotic as they fell into ecstasy together, each one screaming incoherently against the other’s sensitive flesh.

Once their body’s had relaxed and Beca was sure she could actually move, she rolled over onto her back. Missing the contact immediately, she laid her hand on Chloe’s thigh.

“That was…” Beca started, at a loss for words.

“Yeah” Chloe said understanding Beca’s unspoken sentiment perfectly.

“Wow.” Beca said

“Yeah.” Chloe answered, still understanding.

After a few moments of lying there silently, finally feeling mostly recovered, Chloe spoke up.

“Come up here please.” Beca didn’t need to look at her to know she was smiling her thousand gigawatt smile.

Beca sat up and rearranged herself until she was face to face with Chloe laying on her side.

“Yes my love?”

Chloe giggled “I like the sound of that.”

Beca smiled “I do too!”

“Kiss me please.”

“With pleasure!”

Beca kissed Chloe slow and soft, hoping that the kiss conveyed to Chloe exactly how much she was loved.

When Beca pulled away to settle back down onto her back, Chloe leaned up placing a quick kiss on the end of Beca’s nose before snuggling her body under Beca’s arm, and her face into the crook of her neck.

Beca sighed, she couldn’t ever remember being this happy. With that thought, she tucked her arm around Chloe pulled the blanket up around both of them and started to go to sleep. She was roused by Chloe’s voice.

“Beca?”

“Hmmm?”

“I love you.”

Beca placed a quick kiss onto the fiery red top of Chloe’s head and said.

“I love you too Chloe.”

With that they both drifted off into a peaceful sleep each one knowing they were safe in the arms of the person who loved them most in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there ya go… :) Honestly this is the first time I’ve ever written a scene like this and it was a bit more difficult that I first imagined it would be. I hope I did it, and our girls justice! I’m still blushing fairly badly and I finished the damn thing yesterday lol. 
> 
> So,as always, thank you to everybody who reads, leaves kudos, subscribes, bookmarks, and comments. I love watching those counters going up and knowing people are having as much fun as I am with this! Any questions/comments/bitches/suggestions, leave ‘em in the box! 
> 
> And also to anyone who is so inclined you can find and follow me on tumblr at the-breaths-of-chloe for more Bechloe related things (and sometimes pictures of cute animals)


	8. Chapter 8

Beca woke up, snuggled into her bed with the blankets pulled up to her chin. She was warm but not as warm as she should have been. She quickly realized something was missing, namely the heat that should have been coming off the body of a certain sleeping redhead. Without bothering to open her eyes Beca rolled over to throw her arm around Chloe and pull her back towards her. When her arm met nothing but cold sheets Beca thought that Chloe must have gotten up early to make breakfast. The thought of the redhead in her kitchen, naked and cooking pancakes suddenly popped into Beca’s head, she smiled brightly. Beca sat up in bed getting ready to make her way to the kitchen, when she noticed that Chloe’s clothes weren’t hanging over the chair arm where they had been last night. There goes the naked pancake idea, Beca thought a bit disappointed.

Beca got up and walked to her kitchen, the closer she got, the more surprised she was that she didn’t hear Chloe singing or humming or music of any sort. Chloe always sang or listened to music when she cooked, at least she had in college. Beca got to the kitchen archway and stuck her head around hoping to catch the redhead off guard so she could just watch her be her for a moment, but there was no redhead in view. Beca stepped through the archway looking for her, but there was no one in the kitchen and no sign that anyone had been there. Maybe she’s taking a bath Beca thought, starting to get uneasy with the whole situation. Beca checked each bathroom, looked in the showers and the bath tubs, Chloe was nowhere to be seen. Beca started to panic, she checked every bedroom with no results. My studio. She thought, maybe Chloe is in there singing. Beca knew it was a long shot but it was the last room in the penthouse that hadn’t been checked, she flung the door open only to find the studio dark and just as empty as all the other rooms had been.

Beca sat down hard in the chair in front of her mixing board. Chloe had left her… again, without even a goodbye this time. There was no other explanation. She had been here last night, and now she was gone.

Beca’s mind raced, there was something she was missing, somewhere, playing around the edges of her mind. She just couldn’t quite put her finger on it. In her mind she ran through the entire encounter of the night before, analyzing every detail, looking for anything that could have gone wrong, anything that could have made Chloe bolt. She couldn’t think of anything, everything that Beca had said was well received and returned, Chloe had told her she was in love with her. Chloe was in love with her. Suddenly Beca found herself not caring what had gone wrong, whatever it was, she would find out and fix it later. Right now she just had to find Chloe, and she wasn’t going to do that by sitting in her studio sulking.

Beca ran to her closet, she needed to get out of her pajamas and dressed so she could go find Chloe and apologize, quickly before Chloe could get too mad or too far away, anything to get her back. Beca threw open her closet door, the robe that hung on the back whipping out and hitting her in the face. She stopped, the thing playing around the edges of her mind finally starting to come slowly into focus. Last night her robe had been on the chair, she had taken it off and crumpled it up when she climbed into bed next to Chloe, but now here it was hanging perfectly pressed on the back of her closet door. She thought back to when she had first woken up, she was wearing her pajamas. Beca looked down at her body, she was still wearing her pajamas, the same pajamas she had gone to sleep in last night when she had gotten home from the bar. Why would she have gotten up in the night with a naked Chloe lying next to her, and put them back on? She walked over to her bed and looked at it, looked for any sign that Chloe had been there, a stray red hair, a left behind hair tie or bracelet, anything. Beca found nothing, the pillow she remembered Chloe sleeping on wasn’t even rumpled. Chloe hadn’t left in the middle of the night, she had never been there in the first place. Beca had been dreaming.

* * *

 

Beca’s legs gave out and she landed hard on her butt on the floor. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, a position she was finding herself in far too often lately. She sat there holding herself for a long time, she heard her phone ring a quite a few times but ignored it, she didn’t want to talk to anyone and she wasn’t sure if she could have moved even if she did want to.

She was running the dream over and over in her head, listening to Chloe tell her exactly what she needed to hear, feeling Chloe touch her. Beca’s subconscious had done some mean things to her before but this one took the cake.

Beca was so lost in her head she didn’t hear or see Jenifer walk into her bedroom.

“BECA!”

Beca jumped up on instinct and raised her fists into a defensive position, quickly dropping them when she realized who had busted in on her. “What the fuck Jen? Why are you in my bedroom?”

“I’ve been texting and calling you for three hours now, you were upset last night when you came home and I wanted to check on you. Why haven’t you answered me? I thought you were dead.” Jenifer answered, her tone irritated but concern showing through.

“Because I was…” Beca stopped, her face contorted with emotion, she reached out for Jenifer as the tears began to fall and her legs started to give out again. Beca hated anyone seeing her like this but she needed comfort more than she needed her pride right now.

Jenifer immediately grabbed Beca’s hands, and pulled the smaller woman into her. Wrapping her into a tight hug while keeping her upright and smoothing her hair comfortingly.

“Hey, hey, shhhh. What’s wrong?”

“She was here.” Beca sobbed into Jenifer’s shoulder her hands gripping the front of her t-shirt tightly as Jenifer guided them both over to the edge of the bed so they could sit.

“Who was here Beca?”

“Chloe, but she wasn’t.”

“What? Chloe was here? How did that happen? What do you mean she wasn’t? She wasn’t what?” Jenifer said not being able to follow what her sobbing boss was trying to say.

“She wasn’t here.”

Instead of trying to decipher the riddle Beca seemed to be telling her, Jenifer simply tried to comfort her as much as possible, she wrapper her arms tighter around her and stroked her hair, she whispered things like “Go ahead and cry.” “Just get it all out.” “I’m right here.” Anything that wasn’t just an empty platitude, but still actually had a chance of making Beca feel a little better about crying in the first place.

After a few minutes Beca’s tears had almost stopped, Jenifer eased her grip and pushed her back a bit so she could look at her.

“Feel any better?”

Beca shook her head

“Wanna talk about it?”

Beca nodded.

Jenifer sat and waited patiently, she knew opening up was hard for Beca and she didn’t want to push, with her already being so fragile.

After a few minutes Beca spoke quietly her voice rough from the tears.

“Last night I went to bed a few minutes after I got home, and I dreamed that Chloe was here. She told me she loved me, that she was in love with me, and we… we…”

“I think I get it.” Jenifer said gently, not wanting to upset Beca anymore, but really not wanting to hear any details either.

“I’ve never been that happy, ever, and then I woke up she was gone, and I was looking for her, and she wasn’t here, and then I found my robe on my closet door when it should have been on my chair where I threw it, and I was still wearing my pajamas, and I shouldn’t have been, and I realized it had all been a dream, and of course Chloe doesn’t love me. Why would she after the way I hurt her?” Beca spit out so quickly that Jenifer had trouble keeping up.

“Whoa! Slow your roll there champ. Anyone who doesn’t love you is a moron, and what do you mean after the way you hurt her?”

Beca launched into the story telling Jenifer every last important detail of what had gone on between her and Chloe so many years ago. When she was done talking Jenifer sat staring at Beca wide eyed, she thought about her words carefully before she spoke, not wanting to upset Beca any worse than she already was but needing to make a point.

“So, just to make sure I’m clear on all of this, Chloe left you three years ago, because you told her you loved her?”

“No.” Beca said sadly “She left me because I had been stringing her along for six years, and only told her when I thought I would lose her.”

“OK Beca. I know you’re so in love with this girl that you can’t see straight, that’s obvious, but you do realize that at some point in that six years, she could have told you how she felt right? I mean, it didn’t have to be all on your shoulders, and for her to crucify you like that, when she didn’t say anything either, was kind of bullshit. I mean I get the whole being sad thing, but you do realize that right?”

Beca shook her head, starting to cry softly again. “No, you don’t understand. You didn’t know me back then. She had every reason to believe that I would run, I didn’t do emotions or relationships or even friendships really, I pushed anyone away that tried to get close to me. It was kind of my M.O..”

“But would you have run.”

“No, but that’s not the point.”

“Beca that’s exactly the point. Any time you confess feelings for someone there is a chance that they will run or that they won’t return your feelings, or that they’ll just step on your heart for the fun of it, but if you feel that strongly for them you just have to sack up and do it. Take the risk.”

Beca shook her head again. “You just don’t get it.”

“Ok let me ask you something. Why didn’t you ever tell Chloe how you felt?”

“I already told you, because I didn’t think there way anyway she could feel the same about me and I was scared I would lose her if I did.”

“And why do you think Chloe didn’t say anything to you?”

“Because she thought I would run away from her.”

“Ok so by your own logic, Chloe is, or at least was, angry at you for doing the exact same thing she did.”

“No.” Beca said again “You just don’t get it.”

Jenifer saw that she was never going to get Beca to see her point, so she did the next best thing. Without another word she got up walked into Beca’s closet grabbed her a pair of her jeans and a t-shirt, walked back out into the bedroom and threw them at Beca’s face.

“What the fuck?” Beca said startled.

“Put those on, we’re going out.” Jenifer said bluntly.

Beca whined “I don’t wanna go out.”

“Didn’t ask, don’t care.” Jenifer said coolly before turning to walk out of the room.

Jenifer had had to deal with her boss in moods similar to this quite often over the last three years, and surprisingly, the only way to get her out of a funk, usually, or at least get her moving was to just simply tell her what to do and make it known that you expected it to be done.

A few minutes later Beca came out of her bedroom dressed in the clothes Jenifer had picked out for her and a pair of sneakers, looking petulant.

“You suck.”

“Yeah probably, but come on, we’re going to lunch. I didn’t have breakfast and I’m starving.”

Beca crossed her arms over her chest. “I really don’t want to go anywhere Jen, I’m not even hungry.”

“Maybe not, but you still need to eat, and if I don’t make sure you do it, you’ll just end up wallowing all weekend, and Monday morning you’ll come in to the office being a royal bitch and I’ll have to deal with it then. So I’m just saving both of us some time and steps here.”

“You’re saying I’m being a royal bitch right now?” Beca asked, maintaining the snark in her voice but not being able to hide the hurt look in her eyes.

The look in Beca’s eyes did not go unnoticed by Jenifer and she softened her voice and put her hands on Beca’s shoulders.

“No Beca, you’re not being a bitch, royal or otherwise. You’ve had a really emotional last few days and they are just finally catching up with you. I know you ok? You don’t ask for help even when you need it more than anything, and I know that right now you need to get out of your head and out of your house and you need my help to do it. So we are going to go to lunch, and then go shopping, and then go get ice cream or some shit like that, because that’s what happy people do, and by God, even if it kills both of us, we are going to be happy people by the end of the day. Ok?” Jenifer finished sounding exasperated, but still smiling.

Beca smiled back. Sometimes, when she got so far into her head that she couldn’t see daylight, it was easy to forget just how much Jenifer cared for her and how much she actually took care of her as well. Beca honestly wasn’t sure she would have survived the last three years had it not been for the woman standing in front of her. Sometimes, like right now, Jenifer just knew the exact thing to say, to make Beca feel better, without making her feel weak, or even like she had actually been helped.

Beca responded in a way she knew would convey her affection for her assistant, but not too openly.

“You’re such a weirdo.”

“I know.” Jenifer smiled and said as she doubled back around Beca and pushed her out the front door.

* * *

 

Six hours later, Beca and Jenifer had been all over the mall, they had shopped for clothes, music, food, shoes, jewelry, food, lotion and food. Beca had even bought a large curvy sword she had seen in a shop window, because why the hell not?

Jenifer had spent most of the time they were shopping doing stupid things to make Beca laugh, trying on ugly clothes or strange wigs, musing out loud what she would look like with inappropriate piercings, trying to walk in heels that were much too high for her. It had actually worked for the most part, and as they sat in the food court with all their bags and Beca’s sword on the floor beside them eating soft pretzels with cheese sauce, Beca chatting about a few new artists they had just signed and how excited she was to work with them, Jenifer knew that she would be ok.

“I still say you should have let me get you a sword like mine.” Beca said pulling Jenifer from her thoughts.

“Seriously Beca why would I want a sword?”

“So that when things get boring at the office we could have fake sword fights. It would be awesome. We could put it on YouTube.”

“Beca you are the most accident prone person I know, the only thing that would come of that is, one of us dead and the other being brought up on murder charges. Not to mention when is it ever boring at the office? We never have time to be bored.”

“Well I guess you do have a point on the not having time to be bored thing, but I am **so** not that accident prone.”

“Beca I once saw you trip over your own feet, break the desk you fell into, knock the computer off the desk next to the one you broke, and pull the printer sitting on the desk on the other side off on your own head.”

“I was drunk.” Beca said off handedly

“It was eleven o’clock in the morning.”

Beca shrugged and grinned. Jenifer couldn’t help but laugh.

The two sat talking and joking as they finished their pretzels and decided it was probably time to head home.

The radio was on and blaring in the car, both women singing at the top of their lungs as Jenifer drove. Once they arrived Beca was just about to get out of the car before she stopped and turned back in her seat.

“Thanks for today, I know I was a mess this morning, but this really helped.”

 “Do I know you or do I know you?” Jenifer said smiling.

Beca smiled back, leaned over and gave Jen a quick hug, while saying.

“I really don’t know what I would do without you Frame.”

Beca was out of the car, her bags and sword in hand, before Jenifer even had time to process what had just happened.

* * *

 

Beca spent the rest of her weekend preparing herself for Monday or more accurately not thinking about it. She listened to loud music, she danced around her house, she tried to make recipes she had found on Pinterest, mostly with horrific results. She even played with her new sword a bit, stopping only when the rubber grips got sweaty and she ended up putting it through the screen of the TV in her living room. She took a picture and texted it to Jenifer with a caption that said

Think this is covered under the warranty?

Jenifer quickly text back

Please tell me u found that pic online and were trying 2 b funny.

Nope

Plz put the damn sword down! I have a very busy schedule this week and don’t have time to plan ur funeral. 

Very funny Frame! Besides, me putting the sword down was the whole problem.

Don’t make me come over there

:) Pulling sword out of TV and putting it down. See you Monday 

Ur insane!

:D

* * *

 

Monday morning came and Beca actually wasn’t as much of a wreck as she thought she would be, she was nervous of course but that was to be expected she told herself. She sat in her office drinking her coffee, looking over some paperwork, waiting for her first appointment of the day. The one she had been busy not thinking about all weekend.

Jenifer’s voice rang out in the silence from the door of Beca’s office.

“Beca, Ms. Bales is here to see you.”

“Beale.” Beca heard Chloe’s clear voice say.

“Right, sorry.” Jenifer said curtly.

Chloe smiled at Jenifer but it didn’t quite reach her eyes

“No problem Ms. Frank.”

“Frame.” Jenifer said through gritted teeth.

“Right, sorry.” Chloe said throwing Jenifer’s words and curt tone right back at her.

Jenifer turned on her heel and walked out of Beca’s office.

Beca wondered what the little exchange between Jenifer and Chloe had been about but quickly forgot about it as Chloe walked toward her and sat in the chair in front of Beca’s desk, making and holding eye contact.

“Good morning Beca.” Chloe said smiling, this one reaching her eyes.

“Good morning Chloe. How are you?”

“I’m good, thanks. How are you? How was your weekend?”

“I’m fine thanks. The weekend was pretty good, all except for the TV incident. How was yours?”

“Mine was fine too, thanks. TV incident?” Chloe asked curious.

“Yeah.” Beca said waving it off “I don’t really want to get in to it, but let’s just say it involved my living room TV and a sword with slick hand grips… Needless to say I need a new TV.”

Chloe laughed, loud and bright, a sound Beca was very familiar with.

“Beca, why do you even have a sword? You are seriously the clumsiest person I know. I remember a time when you slipped during a rehearsal and took out four Bellas and six rows of chairs in the practice room. If Lilly hadn’t had her med kit on her there would have been at least two ER runs.”

“Why does everybody keep calling me clumsy?” Beca said smiling at the memory. “I’m not clumsy, I’m just frequently in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides that time at practice I didn’t slip, Stacie saw the cute janitor, got distracted, and knocked me down.”

“I didn’t believe that then and I don’t believe it now.” Chloe said shooting Beca an eight hundred gigawatt smile. It wasn’t quite the usual thousand gigawatts but it was so close.

Beca’s breath caught in her throat at the sight and she quickly coughed to cover it up, but it didn’t fool Chloe for a second, and her smile grew a bit more.

For just a moment it was like no time had passed between them at all, but the moment was gone as quickly as it came and they were left sitting and looking at each other, an awkward silence growing between them. 

 “Beca, I wanted to thank you for giving me this chance. I know you didn’t have to, especially…”

“Chloe,” Beca jumped in cutting her off, not really wanting to go down that road right now “Musicality was the best firm I looked at, you are specifically a firm that deals with musicians and record labels, and that’s what I need, someone who knows the industry and exactly what to do to keep this boat afloat.” Beca said giving Chloe the speech she had practiced a hundred times over the weekend in preparation for a conversation like this one, and then quickly added as she saw Chloe’s face fall slightly. “Although getting to work with you again is a pretty big bonus.” Beca finished, smiling what she hoped looked like just a friendly smile.

Chloe returned the smile.

They continued talking about business for almost an hour, going over the logistics of Chloe’s office that would be built in the next week or so. The space would be taken off Beca’s personal conference room, so Chloe would be on the same floor as Beca due to them working so closely together, at least that was Beca’s story. They also went over some of the artists that Chloe would be working closely with, and any other small thing that either one of them could think of.

When it became obvious that they had nothing more to talk about and the meeting was coming to a close Beca and Chloe sat there looking at each other for a few moments. It was so familiar in a way but so foreign at the same time, being so close yet so far away. There were years and miles between them that could never be taken away, three years that felt like a lifetime of pain, at least to Beca, but here they were again, a different place and different circumstances, but still together, always together, each one close enough to touch the other if they would just reach out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hi again all my peoples, first off thank you all for not coming to murder me after the big dream reveal, I really do appreciate it! :) And in all seriousness, thank you all for your continued support of this story. It’s been wonderfully overwhelming and I love you all!
> 
> Ok so here we are. Chapter 9 already? Where has the time gone? Not really much to say about this chapter other than we get a bit more of Chloe’s backstory for the last three years, and some more Bechloe interaction. Enjoy! 
> 
> Side note: The song that comes later in this chapter (the one with the lyrics actually in the story) is called Not Goodbye and is by a fantastic artist and really nice guy (I’ve met him) named Dustin Rapier. I found that it really enhances everything if you listen to the song as you read the lyrics. Just a suggestion. :) You can find it on Beats/Apple music, Spotify, and YouTube for free and if you like it you can buy it on iTunes and probably a few other places as well.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Pitch Perfect 1,2 or any of the characters contained therein, or any of the songs mentioned or used in this chapter, or any of the music/video services I just named. Although if Apple wanted to sell me the company for a pair of Love is Louder headphones and the dollar I have in my wallet I wouldn’t turn them down. (I also don’t own Love is Louder.)

Beca had had a very long day. It was the kind of day where every little thing that could go wrong did. There hadn’t been anything catastrophic, nothing that could even be described as big, all tiny things that just built up.

A canceled lunch meeting, spilling coffee on her white shirt, a paper cut, her printer jamming so bad she had to get someone from IT to come fix it, her computer crashing in the middle of an email she had been trying to write for two days and was finally making some progress on. Little things like that that were just big enough annoyances to be noticed, but when put together were a giant pain in the ass. There were also the awkward silences between her and Chloe that had been coming more often than not lately.

Chloe had been working at Red Industries just over two months. When she had first gotten there, the conversations were easy, flowing seamlessly from business to reminiscing about the Bellas and their college days, but as the time had gone on, it seemed those were the only two things they could talk about without things getting extremely awkward. Anytime the conversation turned anywhere near personal, there would be a moment, and then as quickly as it started it would end, and they would find themselves just sitting and starting at each other.

The first time it had happened had been about two weeks after Chloe started. They were sitting in Beca’s office going over some press releases when Chloe realized she wasn’t looking at the same paperwork that Beca was. Without thinking she walked around Beca’s desk to look over her shoulder at the papers she was holding, but something on Beca’s desk caught her attention instead. Chloe reached out and picked up the picture of the two of them in Copenhagen that Beca still kept on her desk and held it up looking at it for a long moment. Beca held her breath.

“I can’t believe you still have this here.” Chloe said quietly.

“Um…Yeah.” Beca said, releasing the breath she had been holding. “That was a really great trip, good memories there.”

Chloe met Beca’s eyes and held them for just a second before putting the picture down and saying “Could you email me the copies of that doc, I don’t have the right ones.” And making a quick retreat out of Beca’s office. Beca didn’t see a single red hair the rest of the day.

The next time was about a week later. Beca was in Chloe’s office getting a status report on all the work that had been left undone by her previous PR agent. She was surprised to find out that the great majority of it had already been taken care of.

“Wow, Chloe! This is freakin incredible, you are really amazing at this.”

“Just doing my job, Boss.” She laughed.

“No, I’m not kidding, this is amazing.”

Chloe dropped her eyes to her lap before looking back up at Beca and giving her a shy smile. “Thanks Beca, that means a lot to me.”

Beca stood lost in Chloe’s smile for a long moment, until she realized what she was doing.

“Yep, no problem.” She said walking out of Chloe’s office back to the safety of her own where she hid for the rest of the day.

There had been other moments that played similarly but the worst by far had been this afternoon.

Beca had been getting a cup of coffee in the small break room just off the reception area of her office when Chloe walked in.

“Hey Beca.”

“Hey Chloe.”

Chloe walked up beside Beca and pointed down to the cup in her hands.

“You know that stuff will stunt your growth, right?”

Beca let out a loud laugh at the unexpected joke before throwing on an overly dramatic annoyed look.

“Oh, you think you got jokes? Huh, Beale?”

Chloe laughed brightly and Beca couldn’t keep the annoyed look going, she smiled at the redhead. She loved her laugh.

“Oh, yeah I think so. Well at least some things never change. I see you still like your coffee, like you like your women.”

Without missing a beat, Beca donned a confused expression and said

“What? Redheaded and blue eyed.”

Both women froze. It was if someone had hit the pause button on life’s remote. As true as it was, Beca hadn’t meant to say it, and was just as shocked, as the look on Chloe’s face said she was.

Without another word Chloe turned and walked out of the break room forgetting or ignoring whatever she had actually come in for.

“Chloe… I’m… I… I didn’t…” Beca called trying to salvage the situation but stopped when she realized Chloe was already out of ear shot.

“Ugggggggg.” Beca said out loud, leaning over and banging her head on the counter.

That interaction had been the straw that had broken the back of Beca’s day, and what ultimately led to her making the short walk over to Pete’s after work, in desperate need of a drink.

* * *

 

At Pete’s Beca ordered her usual dirty gin martini and found a table tucked back in a dark corner where she could be alone with her thoughts.

For the first time Beca was questioning the wisdom of hiring Chloe’s firm. It wasn’t that Chloe wasn’t a hard worker or good at her job, she excelled at it and worked harder than probably anyone in the office except maybe Jenifer, it was just so hard seeing her every day and not being able to do or say anything she used to be able to. Chloe had always been Beca’s confidant, her rock, now they weren’t even really friends. They still had the past, their time as Bellas, the friendship they once had, but friendships take time and effort and with so much lost time and hurt between them, Beca was afraid that they would never be able to get back, anywhere close, to where they once were. The thought broke what was left of her heart.

* * *

 

An hour later, Beca was three martinis in and still lost in her thoughts when the house lights went down and the stage lights went up.

Great the one night I’m not actually in the mood for Karaoke, Beca thought as she turned to look toward the stage. 

The stage had been changed, where there once was just a stool, a mic stand, and a monitor for karaoke, there was now a baby grand piano, a stool and a mic stand. As Beca was trying to figure out what was going on, one of the bartenders stepped out on to the stage and took the mic.

“How’s everybody doing tonight,” The crowd responded with a half assed cheer. “Good, glad to hear it. Tonight we’re trying something a little different here at Pete’s. After many, many requests from all of you we’ve brought in some live music.” A few people, who Beca assumed were the ones who had made the requests, in the crowd clapped.  “So ladies and gentlemen please put your hands together for an incredibly talented woman who will be taking the music industry by storm any day now, Miss Chloe Beale.”

Seriously? Beca thought as the crowd clapped half assedly again. For the first time since she had met her, Chloe was the last person in the world Beca wanted to see.

Chloe stepped on stage and the crowd stilled in awe. She was wearing a dark blue floor length, sleeveless gown that had a slit in one side that stopped just over her knee. Her hair was down and wild framing her face. She looked radiant. She stepped up and took the mic.

“Hello everybody.” She said giving a slight wave to the small crowd “I’m Chloe and this is Sam” she said pointing to the man who had just sat down at the piano “and we’re going to make some music for you tonight.”

Thank God she didn’t say with our mouths. Beca thought amusing herself, thinking back to the first time she had met Chloe.

Sam started to play the piano flawlessly, the opening chords of an old Cole Porter song called “Miss Otis Regrets” rang clearly through the room just before Chloe started to sing the intro softly. Beca smiled to herself, she had introduced Chloe to that song her sophomore year. It was, to this day, one of Beca’s favorites.

It didn’t take long, as Chloe sang jazz standards, blues ballads, pop songs, and folk songs back to back, for Beca to get completely lost in her voice. She swayed to the music feeling the emotions ringing clearly in Chloe’s voice as if they were her own.

Quite a few songs in, Chloe stopped singing and told Sam he could take a short break. Beca coming out of the trance Chloe’s voice had put her in, looked to the stage to see Chloe sitting down at the piano. Beca knew Chloe could play the piano but she always preferred just singing.

Beca mused at how strange it was to know such intimate details about a person yet still be so distant from them. Chloe’s voice brought her out of her thoughts.

“I would like to tell you all a story.” The crowd, seemingly as spell bound, as Beca was, with the beautiful redhead murmured their acceptance.

“Have any of you ever fucked up?” There were nods all around the crowd and a few people raised their hands.

“Well a few years ago, I fucked up big time. I took advice I shouldn’t have, I got angry over something I had no right to be angry about and I hurt someone that I loved. It didn’t take me long to realize that I made the biggest mistake that I ever had, and had walked away from the best thing in my life. And even though this person recently, for some unknown reason, has accepted me back into their lives, I’m not sure I can ever fix the damage I did.” Chloe’s voice broke on the last word and she looked down at her lap clearing her throat, a tear catching the light as it rolled down her cheek.

“This is a song I wrote for her.” She finished simply.

Chloe started to play a sad slow song and began to sing.

Do you remember when we were young

And we had it all

When the summers felt so long

And all our worries were so small

Looking back I wonder why things had to change

You were always there with me

Now I’m on an empty stage

 

This is where reality sets in

Is this where our dreams all come to an end

This forever starting again

All alone

So let’s not think of this as goodbye

Time slows down the more we try

It’s just gonna be lonely living life

Without you

 

When just a moment here with you is all I want

Cuz that life we could have had, has already come and gone

And the more I think of you the more it kills me

We can’t let the tides of time keep us apart

 

This is where reality sets in

Is this where our dreams all come to an end

This forever starting again

All alone

So let’s not think of this as goodbye

Time slows down the more we try

It’s just gonna be lonely living life

Without you

 

Cuz our younger years were dancing in the rain

And when the world was on my shoulders

You kept me laughing through the pain

Without you it just won’t be the same

 

And this is where reality sets in

Is this where our dreams all come to an end

This forever starting again

All alone

Let’s not think of this as goodbye

Time slows down the more we try

It’s just gonna be lonely living life

Without you

 

So let’s not think of this as goodbye

Not goodbye

But I’ll miss you

 

When Chloe finished singing, her voice raw with emotion, everyone in the bar was silent for just a moment before exploding into cheers and applause. All except for Beca who, tucked back into her little dark corner, sobbed silently, her head in her hands.

* * *

 

Over an hour later Chloe was just finishing her last song of the night, as she took her last bow and thanked everyone for being there, the crowd exploded into motion and sound again.

Beca sat still, emotionally exhausted, staring at her empty martini glass. She was a little drunk and a lot lost in her head, so much so she didn’t see Chloe walking towards her table talking with one of the other patrons a few minutes later.

As Chloe and the man she was talking to walked by, Chloe stopped and did a double take before squeaking in surprise

“Beca! What the hell are you doing here?” The man Chloe had been talking with cleared his throat annoyed, Chloe looked at him and quickly said

“I’m sorry, I’ve gotta talk to my friend for a second, I’d love to finish this conversation next Tuesday if you’ll be here.”  The man nodded his acceptance and said goodbye. Chloe looked back at Beca waiting for her answer.

“Drinking” Beca said simply

“Good place for it. But why here? This doesn’t exactly seem like your scene.”

“It’s not at all. That’s why I like to come here. Nobody knows or cares who I am. Plus I own the place.”

“You own this place?” Chloe said surprised

“Yep about two years ago it was getting ready to go out of business, and I always liked it here, so I bought it to keep it afloat.”

“Did you know I was going to be here tonight?”

“No, I don’t have anything to do with the way they run this place. I just pay the bills.”

“Oh, ok. Have you been here long?” Chloe asked sounding slightly worried.

“Yeah, I got here about an hour before your set started.” Beca said answering Chloe’s unspoken question of whether or not Beca had heard her song.

 Chloe looked at Beca carefully before saying, an unreadable look on her face, “Hey, will you be here for a bit longer? I’d like to talk to you, but I need to go change.”

“Yeah, I’ll be here for a bit, I’m just going to go get another drink.”

“OK cool, I’ll be back in just a few.”

With that Chloe was off to get changed and Beca was off to the bar for another martini. She wasn’t sure what Chloe wanted to talk about, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it at all, at least tonight, but she knew for a fact that she didn’t want to hear it without a drink on standby.

A few minutes later Beca saw Chloe come out of the stage door. She was wearing jeans and a black button down shirt, her hair pulled back in a low messy pony tail. Chloe had looked beautiful in her blue dress, but this was the real Chloe, this was Beca’s Chloe. Beca couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her face. Chloe, seeing Beca watch her and smile, beamed back at her, all thousand gigawatts focused onto Beca.

Beca suddenly wasn’t sure she could deal with this tonight. She wanted to run, just turn around and run out the door and keep running until she couldn’t run anymore, but she didn’t. She sat there at her table, terrified of what the next few minutes held, smiling at the estranged love of her life as she walked towards her.

“Hey” Chloe said sitting down at the table.

“Hey”

They looked at each other for a moment before Chloe took a deep breath and said resolutely.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Beca was not in the mood for cryptic.

“For everything. For the last three years.” Chloe said her smile fading

“Chloe you don’t have anything to apologize for.” Beca said quickly

“Seriously Beca? Yes I do. I have so much…”

Beca cut her off “Look Chlo I know why you did what you did ok, I understand and you were right.”

Chloe’s eyes shone with determination “Beca there was nothing right about what I did.” Beca started to cut her off again but Chloe held up her hand stopping her “Look it’s fine if you don’t need to hear this, if you’ve forgiven me or hate me or whatever, but I need to say this. I’ve needed to say it for a long time. Please just let me.”

Beca nodded

Chloe spoke quickly so she wouldn’t lose her nerve “I am so sorry for the way I treated you three years ago. I had no right to do what I did, it was completely inexcusable. Yes it’s true that you never told me how you felt, but I never told you either. I had just as many opportunities as you did and yes I was scared, but so were you. I couldn’t see past my own hurt and stupidity long enough to see what you were going through. I got involved in the group that put on the Empowering Women in Business seminar, and I was so lonely up there in Chicago without the Bellas and without you. I had gone from being a big somebody at Barden to being absolutely nobody in Chicago and my head was so messed up about everything, my feelings for you, my future, my life. I let something that really didn’t matter take over my life, and I lost myself for a long time, but the thing that kills me is that I also lost my best friend. That’s the thing I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for.” Chloe said her eye’s shining with unshed tears. She looked down at her lap ashamed, took a deep shaky breath and continued. “I realized about six months later how huge of a mistake I had made. I wanted to call you and apologize and beg you to forgive me, but after the way I had acted I couldn’t do it. I pulled up your number so many times and sat there staring at the call button, trying to will my finger to push it but I just couldn’t. I had already put you through enough.”

“I would have forgiven you.” Beca said softly crying

Chloe’s tears finally started to fall “I know you would have. That’s why I couldn’t do it. You would have welcomed me back with open arms and I didn’t deserve that. I deserved for you to yell at me and tell me what a horrible person I am, but that’s not what you would have done. You would have told me you understood and I was right, just like you just tried to do. But I wasn’t right Beca… I wasn’t, I was stupid and if I live a hundred years I’ll never be able to tell you how sorry I am.” Chloe’s tears turned to sobs and she couldn’t continue, she put her head in her hands, her elbows braced on the table, her sobs shaking her body.

Beca couldn’t take it, she could never take Chloe crying, and especially not like this. She got up and rounded the table, pulling the redhead into her arms. Chloe tried halfheartedly to resist, but quickly gave up and sobbed into Beca’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman, fisting her hands in the back of her shirt, holding on to her tightly. Beca stroked her hair and held her, feeling, despite the circumstances, more right than she had in over three years.

As Chloe’s sobs started to calm she said into Beca’s shoulder.

“So much has changed in the last three years. Life has gotten so complicated and it’s been so hard without you. I can’t do this alone anymore Becs. I need you.”

Beca continued stroking Chloe’s hair as she said “You have me Chlo, you always have. That’s never changed.”

Chloe pulled Beca tighter against her “I need my best friend back.”

“I’m right here.” Beca said comfortingly, but she felt like she had been punched in the stomach. There was the truth of the matter right there. Chloe wanted her best friend back, she wanted to go back to what they had had before.

Chloe pulled back to look at Beca, her eyes puffy and cheeks tear stained. “I love you Becs” She said smiling weakly.

Those weren’t the words that Beca needed to hear, but she would take them. She would take whatever she could get when it came to Chloe. Beca made up her mind in that moment, she would be Chloe’s best friend. She would stay by her side no matter what and someway, somehow she would make Chloe fall in love with her again. She had done it once, she could do it again. Now she just had to figure out how.

“I love you too Chlo.”   Beca said, meaning so much more with those five words than Chloe could ever know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there we are. We have a singing Chloe, who is as close to old Chloe as time and life will allow and a very determined Beca. Sound promising? :) I know this was more of Chloe’s emotions and state of mind over the last three years rather than what has actually happened to her, but not to worry, all will be revealed in the next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Beca was sitting in her office looking over a few contracts that she had been putting off lately. She didn’t want to be doing it but all of her other paper work was done and this was the last thing on her desk.

She was elbow deep in the last contract when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye close to her office door, she looked up but saw nothing. She thought it was kind of weird but figured it was just a combination of her hangover from the night before and her eyes playing tricks on her after staring at paperwork all day. Beca pushed her chair back from her desk and leaned back, rubbing her eyes, fully intending on going to get some coffee and taking a much deserved and needed break. When she felt something touching her left knee. Beca dropped her hands from her face and looked up, startled. There was no one there. She felt something touch her knee again this time feeling like someone was trying to crawl into her lap, she looked down at the source of the feeling and saw a small boy standing there with his arms raised looking like he was asking to be picked up.

Beca eyed him cautiously, she didn’t know of anyone on this floor who had a child this age, and couldn’t think of any reason at all why he would be in her office. Eventually Beca picked him up and set him on her lap.

“Hi lady” The little boy said brightly

“Hi” Beca responded still not sure where the boy had come from, who he was, or why he was in her office. “Do you know your name?” Beca asked.

The boy nodded and said something that sounded like Zay.

“OK Zay, do you know where your mommy or daddy or who the hell ever is supposed to be taking care of you is?”

The boy frowned up at Beca and said “Bad word, lady!”

“Right, sorry.” The apology seemed to make him feel better and he smiled again. Beca tried again, “Who is your mommy?”

The boy thought for a second and then shrugged. Beca wasn’t sure if he didn’t understand the question or just didn’t know anything other than her name was mommy. Beca didn’t know anything at all about kids and wasn’t sure when that kind of awareness became a thing.

The little boy broke her train of thought when he poked her in the cheek with his tiny finger and said “Pretty.”

Beca looked at him strangely, was she seriously getting hit on by a toddler? “Uh, thanks kid.”

The boy giggled at the look on Beca’s face and poked her in the nose.

At the sound of his giggle there was suddenly no doubt in Beca’s mind who this boy belonged to. As she looked closer at him she realized she should have seen it when she first looked at him. His floppy red hair fell in messy waves across his forehead and he was staring at her with huge, impossibly blue eyes, he even had her giggle. Either someone had cloned Chloe and messed up the chromosomes or this was Chloe’s little boy sitting in her lap. How did she not know that Chloe had a kid? Why had Chloe not told her when they were talking last night?

“Let’s go find your mommy.” Beca said to the little boy.

“OK lady.” He responded brightly.

Beca picked the boy up and set him on the floor before getting up herself. She wondered if she should take his hand or something to keep him from running off, was that a thing people did? She thought so but she wasn’t sure. It’s not like there way any traffic up here he could run into or anything. She looked down to reach for his hand and saw him reaching up like he wanted to be picked up again.

“Oh, ok, I guess that works.” Beca said earning a quizzical look from the boy.

She picked him up and sat him on her hip and wrapped her arm around his waist like she had seen someone in a movie do. This is a pretty effective way to carry a kid, Beca thought to herself as she walked out of her office with the boy on her hip.

As she passed by Jenifer’s desk, she heard something that sounded like a strangled cough. She stopped to see her assistant choking on the drink of coffee she had just taken.

“Shit Jen, are you alright?”

“Bad word lady!” The boy chided again.

“Sorry kid.” Beca said immediately

“Why do you have a kid on your hip? Where did he come from? Who the hell does he belong to?” Jenifer choked out.

“Bad word lady!” The little boy said pointing at Jenifer sounding exasperated at the adults’ inability to keep their language in check.

“It’s ok Zay, don’t pay any attention… to either of us.” Beca said comfortingly to the boy in her arms patting his back with her free hand, causing him to nuzzle into her shoulder happily. Beca felt her heart melt a little bit. 

Jenifer looked at Beca like she had just sprouted a third arm out of her forehead.

“Jen I don’t really know the answer to any of those question but I’m trying to find out. Have you seen Chloe recently?”

Jenifer’s face hardened a bit at the mention of the redhead.

“No I haven’t seen her.”

“OK, well if you see her before I do, can you tell her I’m looking for her please?”

“Sure.” Jenifer said clipped.

“Thanks!” Beca said walking out of her pre-office with the boy on her hip.

The tension between Jenifer and Chloe lately had been clear. Beca wasn’t sure what was going on between them, but she desperately hoped that whatever it was would work itself out soon. They were the two most important people in her life and the three of them working as a team would be so much easier than the two of them constantly trying to out snark each other.

* * *

 

Beca checked Chloe’s office first, when she didn’t find her there, she decided to send her a quick text and just wait for her rather than wander around the building looking for and probably missing her.

Beca thought to make the situation a bit easier she’d send Chloe a picture of Zay so she knew for sure that he was ok. Beca pointed her phone at him.

“Zay, smile.”

The boy immediately responded by striking a pose and smiling brightly. If Beca had had any doubts that this little boy belonged to Chloe they were all gone now.

Beca sent the picture along with a message that said

Excuse me ma’am but does this belong to you?

Within seconds Beca’s phone chimed

Oh thank God! Where r u?

Beca shot back quickly.

Your office. We’ll wait here. 

Ty! 

Chloe came running out of the elevator and through the door of her office. When the little boy saw her he screeched “Mommy!” as he held his hands out to her.

Chloe scooped him up, as Beca held him out to her, and pulled him into her chest, mumbling into his hair about how bad he had scared her. When Chloe was finally done hugging the boy she pulled him back from her chest setting him on her hip the way Beca had done and looked at him sternly.

“Young man, don’t you ever run off like that again. You almost gave Mommy a heart attack!”

The boy looked down ashamed, Beca couldn’t help but think that seeing that look on his face was just slightly more heart breaking that when she had seen it on Chloe’s face the night before.

“Sorry Mommy.” Came his sad response.

Chloe kissed him on the forehead and said

“It’s ok, just don’t do it again.”

“OK” He said, his smile returning.

Chloe turned to Beca

“Thank you so much Becs, I thought I was going to go…”

Chloe was cut off by her son tugging on her sleeve

“Mommy!”

“What Zay?”

 “Pretty lady.” He said pointing to Beca and smiling his mother’s thousand gigawatt smile.

Chloe looked at Beca, smiled the same smile and looked back to her son.

“Yes, she is very pretty isn’t she?”

Beca felt her entire body blush, it was bad enough having one redheaded, blue eyed Beale smiling that smile and telling her she was pretty, but she wasn’t sure her heart could actually survive two of them. She spoke up to try and distract from the deep shade of red she knew she was turning.

“That’s a pretty smooth little dude you’ve got there Chloe. That’s the second time in ten minutes he’s told me I’m pretty.”

Chloe laughed and was just about to respond when a tall dark haired man walked up behind her. Zay yelled “Daddy!” and reached out for him.

Beca’s heart fell into the pit of her stomach and she was suddenly aware that throwing up was a very real possibility.

The man picked Zay up and spun him around saying “Hey little man” Before pulling him in for a hug and kiss and then settling him on his hip just before kissing Chloe on the Cheek

“Hey Chlo.”

“Hey Gabe.”

Beca watched the exchange, feeling worse by the second. Chloe was married, she didn’t wear a ring, but Beca knew that a lot of business people didn’t. God why hadn’t she thought of that before, of course Chloe was married, she was beautiful, talented, educated, outgoing, determined, Beca could have gone on for hours about all the things that Chloe was. There was no one in their right mind that wouldn’t want Chloe as their wife. Beca heard the man, Gabe, speaking and halfway tuned back in.

“Sorry I’m so late, and thanks for bringing little man to work with you.”

“Not a problem.” Chloe said and then added “Oh Gabe, This is Beca Mitchell.”

“Wow, DJ Blue, in the flesh.” Gabe said stepping forward and reaching out to shake Beca’s hand before adding “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Beca smiled what she hoped came across as a genuine smile and shook Gabe’s hand. “Well don’t worry the media lies a lot.”

Gabe laughed “Well that too, but I actually meant from Chlo. She’s told me all about her days as a Bella and how much fun she had leading the group with you.”

Beca didn’t know what to say. Chloe had told her husband about her? How much did he know? She was really starting to think that she was actually going to throw up and that at this point it even seemed preferable to standing here with the love of her life and her happy family. Beca was about to speak when Zay tugged on Gabe’s sleeve and said “Daddy!”

“Yeah little man?”

The little boy pointed to Beca again. “Pretty Lady.”

Gabe laughed and poked Zay in the stomach earning a giggle from the boy. He looked back at Beca “This one’s gonna be a real ladies man when he grows up.”

Beca forced another laugh, this one a little easier and more genuine because she really did like the little boy “Yeah that’s the third time he’s said that to me.”

“Doesn’t surprises me,” Gabe said laughing “He’s been seeing pictures of you since he was just a baby, Chloe keeps them all over the place. The Bellas on graduation day, the Bellas at the worlds, you and her in Copenhagen, you and her from your retreat senior year.”

Chloe blushed a deep crimson red.

Beca couldn’t take any more, she laughed as much as she could in response to Gabe and then said.

“Well it’s been great to meet you Gabe” Beca looked at her watch “but I’ve got some paperwork I’ve got to get done before the end of the day, and it’s not gonna do itself, unfortunately.” and laughed lamely at her own attempt at a joke. 

“That is true it never does. Well it was really nice to meet you, and I suppose I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Yep I suppose you will.” Beca said trying to smile. “I’ll see you later Chloe” She said to a still blushing Chloe. As she walked out of Chloe’s office she poked Zay in the stomach saying “Bye Zay” he smiled his mom’s smile again and beamed back at her.

“Bye lady.”

* * *

 

Beca sat in her office staring at her desk. She was devastated. Up until tall, dark, and husband had walked in she honestly believed there was a chance she could make Chloe fall in love with her again.

It suddenly dawned on her, when Chloe said her life had gotten complicated last night, this is what she meant, she was trying to let her down easy. Trying to find a way to say, without saying, that she was married. She really did just want to be friends and nothing else. She already had the everything else all packaged up with a nice bow on top.

A soft knock on Beca’s office door brought her out of her thoughts, she sat up in her chair and grabbed some paperwork trying to look like she had been doing something.

“Come in.” She called

The door opened and there stood Chloe.

“Hey Becs.” Chloe said softly.

“Hey Chlo.”

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah of course, come on in, have a seat. I was just going over these contracts.” Beca said holding up the papers in her hand and pointing to the chair in front of her desk. She was trying to sound normal, but she was pretty sure she was failing miserably.

Chloe walked into the office and sat down. She looked at Beca for a moment, an odd look on her face.

“Beca, your papers are upside down.”

Beca wanted to slam her head into her desk, but instead just said lamely.

“Well I guess that explains why they weren’t making much sense.” before letting out a nervous laugh and putting the contracts down.

Beca looked up and saw Chloe look down at her lap and chew the edge of her bottom lip. She knew that meant Chloe had something she wanted to talk about but didn’t know how to start.

After a moment Beca, not being able to take the heavy silence any more, blurted out much louder than she meant to.

“Your husband is really nice. Cute too.” Beca face palmed herself in her head. Cute too? Really?  Way to make this more awkward that it already was Mitchel.

Chloe looked up at Beca, shock showing plainly on her face.

“Beca, Gabe isn’t my husband.”

“Oh, sorry” Beca said “Boyfriend then.”

“Not that either.” Chloe said

“Oh” Beca said, a slight spark of hope reigniting in her chest. “Man nanny?” She asked hoping to ease the awkwardness a bit.

Chloe burst out laughing “No, he is Zay’s father, but we’re not together, we never were really.”

Beca’s looked at Chloe confused.

Chloe looked worriedly at Beca for a moment before she spoke.

“The night I got back to Chicago after visiting you three years ago, I was a total mess. I hadn’t realized that I was an asshole yet, but I still felt so empty and alone. Stupidly, I decided drinking was the only thing that would make me feel better; so I went to my favorite bar. They had a live band that night and Gabe was the guitar player. After his set he came and sat next to me at the bar. He said I looked sad and asked if I was ok. We started talking and drinking and one thing led to another.

The next morning over breakfast we decided we had had fun and should stay friends, but that was it. Two months later I was making the call that no one wants to make after a one night stand, even if you are still friends with the guy.” Chloe finished waiting expectantly for Beca’s response.

“Oh” Beca said still processing Chloe’s speech.

“Yeah” Chloe said.

“Wow”

“Yeah” Chloe said sounding sad “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Zay, I just didn’t want you to think any less of me.”

“Why would I think less of you?” Beca asked confused.

“Beca, I got pregnant because of a one night stand”

Beca sighed, Chloe was probably the smartest person she knew, but God, could she be dense sometimes.

“Chloe, I could never think less of you than I already do.” Beca said sounding sincere.

Chloe’s face showed a mix of confusion, hurt, shock and indignance all at the same time and it took Beca a second to realize what she had said that would cause such a look. 

“NO! Shit! That came out way, **way** wrong!” Beca almost screamed, before shaking her head and continuing “You know I’m bad at this stuff. What I mean is I think the world of you and nothing could change that.”

Chloe laughed as her face relaxed and she smiled at Beca.

“Thank you, Becs. That really means a lot to me.”

“It’s just the truth Chlo.” Beca smiled back and then changed the subject abruptly sensing the conversation was heading into dangerous waters.

 “Gabe seems to be a really good dad.”

“Yeah he is. He really stepped up when I told him I was pregnant. He took me to all my doctor’s appointments and made sure I had everything I needed. He spends lots of time with Zay when he’s not touring. He even asked me to marry him after I first told him.”

“Really? Wow! Why didn’t you?”

“Because, as much as I cared about him, I wasn’t in love with him, and I didn’t want my child to grow up in a home where their parents weren’t ridiculously in love.”

Beca smiled, she knew exactly why Chloe felt that way.

Beca had met Chloe’s parents a few times while they were in college and it was obvious to anyone who cared to look, that the couple was in fact, ridiculously in love. Mr. Beale had met Mrs. Beale on their first day of college, and Mr. Beale had spent the next four years wooing the woman relentlessly, never even looking at anyone else. He had told Beca once that the second he saw Mrs. Beale walk into the quad, he had leaned over to the friend he was sitting with and said “see that redheaded girl right there, I’m going to marry her.” His friend had told him to not jump into anything, but Mr. Beale had already jumped and was in a freefall. Two months after they both graduated they had gotten married.That had been over thirty five years ago but the last time Beca saw them they had still looked like newlyweds.

“Beca? You ok?”

Chloe’s voice brought Beca out of her thoughts.

“Huh? Oh yeah sorry, when you made that comment about being ridiculously in love it made me think of your parents. How are they doing?”

Chloe smiled, she loved talking about her family almost as much as she loved them.

“They’re doing great, same old Mom and Dad. They said to say hi by the way.”

“Good! I’m glad to hear it! Tell them I say hi back.”

“I will. Thank you again for finding Zay. I’m not sure I’ve ever been that scared in my life.”

“Hey no problem, he seems like a great kid. Plus I didn’t really find him, he kinda found me. I was sitting here going over those contracts and he walked right in and tried to climb up in my lap.”

Chloe laughed. “That sounds like him. How did you know he was mine anyway?”

“Are you kidding me? He looks like your clone! He’s even got your laugh.”

Chloe smiled a sweet smile at Beca. The one that she used to pull out anytime Beca noticed or remembered something Chloe didn’t think she would.

Beca’s heart skipped a beat, this friendship thing might be a bit harder than she originally thought.

“So Zay? Is that short for something?” Beca said wanting to keep the redhead in her office but really needing her to stop looking at her the way she was.

“Yeah it’s short for Zavier. It was Gabe’s grandpa’s name.”

Chloe was just about to continue when her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen.

“Shit, this is Katy Perry’s agent. I gotta take it.”

“Yeah no problem, go ahead.” Beca said quickly as Chloe answered her phone and walked out of her office.

* * *

 

Beca was doing her best to concentrate on the contract she had been distracted from earlier, when her office door slammed shut making her jump. She looked up and saw Jenifer stomping across her office before sitting down hard in the chair in front of her desk.

“Jen? You ok?” Beca asked, not being sure what was going on.

“Have you ever just wanted to punch someone square in the tits?” Jenifer said almost yelling, obviously pissed.

“Jen! What the hell has gotten in to you? Who do you want to punch square in the… Who do you want to punch?” Beca amended not being sure she was ok with using the word tits in normal conversation.

“Uggggg! It’s not important.” Jenifer said crossing her arms over her chest and glowering at Beca.

Jenifer knew that something had gone down between Beca and Chloe the night before. She didn’t know what it was, but it was clear in their interactions this morning. Yesterday they could barely say two words to each other that weren’t about business without one of them getting awkward and running away, but this morning, they were all light touches and shy smiles. Still awkward but more comfortable than she had ever seen them and it made her want to puke.

The conversation she had just overheard from Beca’s open office door didn’t help matters. How many times could one person fall into shit and still come out smelling like roses? First Chloe had almost destroyed Beca, then she had gone and had a one night stand and gotten pregnant. She gets an adorable kid, a gorgeous baby daddy who is also a musician, a dedicated father and a great friend, a great job with a new PR firm, an account with a big record label, and Beca.

Jenifer wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much, it wasn’t like Chloe had done anything to her personally. Hadn’t stolen her boyfriend or job, but it did bother her, especially the fact that Beca was just so open to letting her back in to her life, no questions asked.

“JEN!” Beca yelled.

“WHAT!?” Jenifer snapped back.

“Geez, take it easy killer. I’ve been talking to you for five minutes now. I was just trying to get your attention.”

“Sorry.” Jenifer said a little easier but still surely.

“It’s ok, but seriously what’s got you so ready to kill someone… Wait it’s not me you want to punch is it?” Beca said covering her chest with her hands

Jenifer couldn’t help but laugh seeing Beca sitting there with her hands on her boobs trying to look scared.

“No it’s not you. I’ve just had a long day, and there was a conversation, and an idiot, and it was ridiculous, and that’s all I’m saying.”

“Well that’s not cryptic at all.” Beca said laughing, having absolutely no idea what Jenifer was talking about. 

Jenifer grinned at her “If it was meant to make sense it would have.”

Beca rolled her eyes.

“Anyway I just needed to vent for a second. Thanks for listening.” Jenifer said getting up to leave Beca’s office, in a slightly better mood but not really feeling any better about the situation itself or how upset the whole thing was making her.

“Anytime.” Beca said a little bewildered watching Jenifer walk out before shaking her head. Why do the two most complicated women in the world have to be the ones that mean the most to me, she mused, laughing to herself.

* * *

 

As Chloe had walked out of Beca’s office, she had seen Jenifer glaring at her. She didn’t know why the woman hated her so much. They had only known each other for a little over two months and in that time Chloe hadn’t really interacted with her at all. The only time they really even spoke was when Chloe needed to know where Beca was and had no one else to ask. There was no way she could have offended her and Chloe knew from experience, rather than cockiness, that she was not the type of person that people just didn’t like upon meeting. She just couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.

The reason it was bothering Chloe so much, was she knew that Beca and Jenifer were close and if she and Beca were going to try to get back to where they had been, and be as much a part of each other’s lives as Chloe was hoping they would be, it would make things a lot easier if she and Jenifer could get along.

Suddenly she had an idea. She got up and walked down the short hall to the area Beca called her pre-office, where Jenifer’s desk was, she knocked lightly on the door frame of the open door. When Jenifer looked up, her face quickly took on an annoyed look, and she said curtly.

“Beca’s not in”

“Actually Jenifer, I was hoping to talk to you.” Chloe used the woman’s first name hoping to set a nice tone to the conversation.

“Of course Ms. Bales, what can I help you with?”

Chloe bristled internally, she was trying to be nice dammit. She knew it wouldn’t help if she let her annoyance show. So instead she softened her voice and spoke again.

“Listen, somewhere along the line I think you and I got off on the wrong foot. So I was hoping maybe we could start over. Try to actually get to know each other a bit. Maybe over dinner tonight? My treat.” Chloe added trying to sweeten the deal. 

Jenifer looked at Chloe like she had a venomous snake wrapped around her neck and was asking if she wanted to pet it.

“You want to go out to dinner… with me?” Jenifer asked a mix of shock and horror, clear on her face and in her voice.

“Yeah. I mean, I know Beca thinks the world of you and I think the world of her, so it’s inevitable that we’ll be seeing a good bit of each other. I just thought it would be nice to take another stab at…” Chloe trailed off not really knowing where to go from there. While she wouldn’t mind being friends with Jenifer she had the distinct feeling that would never happen, she’d settle for just being able to be civil with each other at the office.

At the mention of Beca’s name, Jenifer felt her temper flare. Bales was actually going to use that to try to get her out to dinner? What did she want out of this? Jenifer didn’t believe that she just wanted “to start over” for a second. Maybe she wanted to get her alone to tell her to stay away from Beca. That’s gotta be it, Jenifer thought. Well if little red riding hood thought she could intimidate her, she had another thing coming.

“Sure Ms. Bales, that sounds lovely.” Jenifer said her voice dripping with feigned sweetness.

Chloe smiled a tight smile, she wouldn’t let Jenifer get to her. She would maintain her calm. WHY THE HELL DOES SHE HATE ME SO MUCH? Chloe finally screamed in her head. Before saying.

“Great! How about seven thirty at Mario’s?” Suggesting the Italian steak house she knew the entire office ordered lunch from whenever possible.

“Sounds great, see you then.” Jenifer said switching tactics and trying to sound as menacing as she could.

Chloe looked at her with a blank face, and turned to walk away. This might be a little more difficult than she had originally thought.

“Little red riding hood, get ready to meet the big bad wolf.” Jenifer said under her breath as she watched Chloe go.

* * *

 

Chloe had been sitting at the restaurant for just over twenty minutes when Jenifer finally showed up. She was a little pissed but decided in the name of starting over to give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe traffic had been bad. Chloe stood up from the table and held her hand out to Jenifer as she walked up.

“Jenifer, good to see you.” Chloe said smiling.

“Ms. Bales.” Jenifer replied curtly, shaking Chloe’s hand quickly.

Chloe had had enough of the name game, they were, after all supposed to be adults, as they sat down she said “Look, I was really hoping we could have a pleasant evening. Could you please just drop the Bales thing for tonight?”

“Fine” Jenifer said begrudgingly.

“Thank you” Chloe said back relieved.

They sat in silence as they looked at the menus until the waiter came and they both ordered. With nothing more to distract them from each other, the silence grew more and more uncomfortable between them, until Chloe couldn’t take it anymore.

“So this is a nice place huh? This is my first time here.”

Jenifer was not in the mood for small talk. “Look Ms. Ba... Look, I’m not really one for small talk. OK? So why don’t you just say whatever it is that you brought me here to say.”

Chloe looked at her confused “I don’t know what you mean. I didn’t bring you here to say anything in particular. I told you, I’d just like chance to get to know you and for you to get to know me.”

“Right.” Jenifer said sarcastically. She was being rude and she knew it, but she didn’t care.

Chloe was taken aback. “If you’re so sure I have something to say. Why don’t you tell me what you think I brought you here to tell you.”  

“Fine. I think you brought me here to tell me to stay away from Beca.”

“WHAT?” Chloe almost screamed, and then quickly dropped her voice as a few of the other diners turned to find out what the commotion was about. “Why in the living hell would I want to tell you to stay away from Beca?”

“Because I may be the only one who can talk some sense into her when it comes to you.”

The statement pissed Chloe off quite thoroughly but Chloe Beale was nothing if not a trooper, she just had to keep her temper in check and get to the bottom of this.  

“Jenifer, why do you hate me so much? You started in on me as soon as you met me. You never even gave me a chance to prove I’m not whatever it is you think I am”

“Oh, I know what you are.”

“And what is that exactly?”

“A horrible person who has done nothing but hurt my friend.”

Chloe had had it, she was done playing Ms. Nice guy. She would not sit here and listen to this woman talk about her relationship with Beca this way. “You know nothing about Beca and I, or what we’ve gone through. So please stop trying to throw whatever it is you **think** you know in my face.”

“Oh I don’t know anything about it. Huh?”

“No.” Chloe said with finality, her voice low and dangerous.

“I know that three years ago you left Beca sobbing in the airport because she confessed her love for you.”

Chloe’s expression quickly changed from one of rage to one of disbelief as her jaw fell open at Jenifer’s words. How the hell did she know that?  

“I know that in the years you had known her you never told her how you felt, and then when she finally told you, you freaked out and left, only to come back three years later, when it was convenient for you, when you felt better about life. You know what else I know? I know that I’ve been the one that has had to deal with the consequences of what you did. I’m the one who has had to deal with Beca’s depression. I’m the one who has basically had to keep her label afloat for the last three years because she was too distraught and lost in her own head to do it herself. I’m the one who has had to make sure that she’d eat and sleep once in a while. I’m the one that has had to see her wither and almost die and has had to be in constant contact with her because as long as she was texting me I knew she hadn’t killed herself.” Jenifer’s voice broke on the last statement and she paused briefly to collect herself before she cleared her throat and continued. “I’m the one who, when she had a dream about you two months ago, held her while she sobbed about how much she had hurt you and didn’t deserve another chance with you. So don’t. fucking. tell. me. that I don’t know anything about your relationship. I know that you are poison to that woman. You are the one that doesn’t deserve her, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you don’t get to her again.”

Chloe had started to cry while Jenifer was talking, she hadn’t known any of what the other woman had just told her. She knew that Beca had to have been sad that they had lost touch, had maybe even been a bit depressed for a while just like she herself had been, but for three years? Chloe had assumed that Beca had moved on, she figured there was even a chance that she was seeing someone now.

“I didn’t know…” Chloe said more to herself than to Jenifer.

“Maybe if you cared about her a fraction of the amount that she cared about you, you would have bothered to check.” Jenifer spat back.

“God, I’m so sorry.” Chloe said to the image of Beca three years ago sobbing and holding herself in the airport, that had appeared in her head.

“That may work on Beca, but not on me.” Jenifer said thinking Chloe was talking to her.

Chloe looked up as if she was just remembering Jenifer was there, before saying softly the anguish clear in her voice.

“I have to go.”

She opened her purse and laid a hundred dollar bill on the table and got up to walk out.

Jenifer watched her go without a word, she had a feeling she knew that she was headed to Beca’s place, but that couldn’t be helped at the moment. Beca would probably be pissed that Jenifer had told Chloe all the things she had, she hadn’t said anything that wasn’t the truth. Even so she still needed to come up with something to not only pacify her feisty little boss, but also to try to keep her away from the redhead for as long as possible. “Operation tit punch” is **so** a go. Jenifer thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Ah-ha so that’s what Chloe’s been up to. Huh? :)   
> OK so here we are. More rebuilding with even more to come and now a kid, a gorgeous musician baby daddy, an incredibly angry best friend and plenty of spilled secrets to complicate things. The plot thickens…  
> So honestly who had a little heart attack when Beca thought Chloe had gotten married or did you guys see right through it? And what do you guys think of Gabe and Zay? Not to mention “Operation tit punch”? Talk to me! ;)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Not much to say about this chapter really. Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: Yeah, no. Don’t put me down for cardio (or owning Pitch Perfect 1 or 2, cuz I don’t).

Jenifer was sitting on her couch watching “The Haunting” when someone started pounding on her front door like they were trying to come through it. She yelled “I’m coming” before getting up and walking over to the door.

She was just starting to pull the door open when the person on the other side pushed it hard, causing it to fly the rest of the way open and slam into the wall behind it. Jenifer jumped clear in the nick of time.

“What the fu…” She started to say, scared, but trying to sound angry, hoping to deter the person on the other side from whatever they were planning, when she saw her small boss stomping, uninvited, into her house.

Jenifer stopped and took in the situation as she closed the door, she had never seen Beca look like she did right now. Her dark hair was crazy, flying around as she walked and her dark blue eyes burned with anger, a deeper blue that Jen had ever seen them.

“Beca?” She asked cautiously.

Hearing her name was enough to bring her out of her thoughts and open the flood gates of her anger.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TELL CHLOE ALL THOSE THINGS?” Beca screamed at top volume.

“Beca, please. Just calm down I can explain everything.”

“Don’t you fucking tell me to calm down.” Beca said still raging but at a slightly lower volume. “Why? I want to fucking know why?”

Jenifer put her hands up, trying to look non-threatening as she walked toward Beca.

“Because she had no idea what she’d put you through these last few years Becs. She needed to know.”

“Don’t you call me that!” Beca screamed pointing at Jenifer. Jenifer sadly nodded her consent and Beca continued. “You don’t get to decided what anyone in my life needs to know! You had no right to tell her those things, those were told to you in confidence. I thought I could trust you!”

Jenifer stopped walking, she flinched at the words.

“Beca, I’m sorry. I just…”

“Don’t.” Beca said simply. She stood there in the middle of Jenifer’s living room seething, before she finally broke, tears streaming down her cheeks. She fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands, the tears quickly turning to loud sobs.

Jenifer kneeled next to Beca, she wanted to reach out and touch her, hold her, but she was afraid of the reaction.

“She’s on her way back to Chicago.” Beca croaked out through her sobs.

“What?” Jenifer asked disbelief clear in her voice.

“She called me from the airport, she and her son are on a plane back to Chicago as we speak. For good this time and the really shitty part is I can’t even really be mad at you, because if you telling her everything you told her tonight, sent her running again. It would have happened again eventually anyway, when things started to get hard.” Beca stopped speaking before dropping her hands and looking at Jen, the devastation clear on her face “Why does she always run from me when I need her Jen?”

With that, Jenifer couldn’t take it anymore, she leaned in and put her arms around Beca pulling her close. Beca was still for a second and Jenifer thought she would pull away, but instead she wrapped her arms tightly around her assistant and sobbed into her shoulder. Jenifer sat back and pulled Beca the rest of the way into her lap cradling the distraught women, smoothing her hair and mumbling things like “I’m right here, you’ll be ok.” “I won’t let you go.”

As Beca’s sobs started to quiet, Jenifer spoke softly.

“She runs from you because she’s a coward, and she could never love you as much as you love her. As much as you deserve to be loved.”

Beca sniffled and said “You are the only person who hasn’t left me Jen. Why have you stayed this long? I know it hasn’t been easy dealing with me these last few years.”

“No it hasn’t.” Jen said honestly “But I’ve stayed because… I’m in love with you.” Jen hadn’t even really realized the truth of the words until she heard them come out of her mouth, but as soon as she did she knew there were no truer words in existence.

Beca sat up and looked at her shocked. “You… You’re… in love… with me?”

“Yeah I guess I am.” Jenifer said looking deeply into Beca’s steel blue eyes. When she heard the words come out of her mouth she had expected Beca to leave, to run fast and far, but she just sat there in her lap staring at her, her face unreadable. Jenifer took a chance, she leaned forward slowly, giving Beca time to see what was coming and stop her if she wanted to, but Beca didn’t stop her, she just kept looking at her like she was really seeing her for the first time.

“Journeys end in lovers meeting.” Jenifer said softly her lips brushing Beca’s, before closing the distance between them.

As their lips connected softly, time seemed to stand still. Jenifer closed her eyes and tentatively touched Beca’s bottom lip with her tongue, wordlessly asking permission to deepen the kiss. In answer, Beca opened her mouth slightly and wrapped her arms around Jenifer’s neck.

They kissed, for a long moment, like there was nothing else in the universe that either one of them needed.

Jen gently put her hands on Beca’s waist and pulled her closer, when she heard her phone chime with the special tone that meant Beca had text her. It took Jenifer a moment to break through the cloud of emotion in her head to realize, that didn’t make any sense. How was Beca texting her when she was here, in her lap, kissing her.

Jenifer’s eyes flew open, and she quickly took in her surroundings. She was laying on her couch and “The Haunting” was playing softly in the background. She was alone and had been dreaming, she didn’t even remember falling asleep.

She quickly grabbed her phone, swiped the screen to unlock it, and pulled up her messages. There was one from Beca.

Hey, can you come in a bit early tomorrow? I need to talk to you about something?

She quickly replied.

Sure np. 7 ok? 

Yep sounds good, thanks. 

YW

Jenifer put her phone back on the charging pad.

Shit! Beca knew what she had done and was probably going to fire her, and as bad as that was, it was really the least of her problems.

She was in love with Beca Mitchell.

* * *

 

Jenifer was in the office sitting at her desk at six forty five, after her dream and with the early conversation with Beca looming over her head, she hadn’t slept another wink and she had only gotten about twenty minutes of sleep before that. She was beyond exhausted.

She was absently clicking a pen staring blankly at her computer screen, when Beca walked in ten minutes later with two cups of coffee in her hand.

“Wow, you’re here extra early.” Beca said sounding tired

“Yep.” Jenifer said being too tired and distracted to read Beca’s mood.

“Well come on in. Let’s get this over with.”

Jenifer walked into Beca’s office looking and feeling like a puppy expecting to get kicked. She sat down in the chair in front of Beca’s desk, folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them.

Beca walked around to sit behind her desk and sat both cups of coffee down in front of herself before looking at them strangely and then picking one of them up and walking back around her desk to hand it to Jenifer saying “Oh yeah, that one’s for you. Guess I should drink mine instead of just carrying it around.”

“Thanks.” Jenifer said wondering who in their right mind would bring the person they are about to fire a coffee.

Beca walked back around her desk sat down and took a long drink of her coffee before saying “There, that should grease the works a little bit.”

Jenifer was officially confused. How was Beca being so calm about all of this?

“Ok, so the reason I asked you to come in early today is” Jenifer held her breath “you know the release party for Katy Perry that we have next month?”

“Yeah?” Jenifer said questioningly, just getting more confused by the second.

“Well… OK, so you know I’m crap at planning these things, and I know that you’ve done a lot around here lately. More than your fair share, but I was wondering if you could plan it.”

Jenifer looked at Beca like she had just proclaimed herself Xena: Warrior Princess and jumped up on her desk, dressed in leather, brandishing a sword about.

“You want me to plan Katy’s release party?”

Beca looked sheepish “Yeah, would you mind terribly? I know you’re really busy right now but it would really help me out.”

“That’s what you brought me in early to talk about?”

“Yeah I looked at the schedule before I left last night and I wasn’t sure either of us would have time to talk about it during normal hours.”

“That’s it? That’s all you wanted to say?”

Beca looked at Jenifer, confused. Beca could understand her being a little peeved that she had asked her to come in early, but she was asking questions like she had no idea what was going on, or like Beca had had some kind of ulterior motive “Yeah, that’s it. Jen are you ok? You seem really weird this morning.”

“Yeah I’m fine. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” Jenifer said smiling for the first time since she had woken up in the middle of the night, and breathed a sigh of relief. “And Beca, that party has been planned for three weeks.”

“It has?” Beca said in disbelief

“Yeah it has, things like that can’t wait until the last minute. What do you think you pay me for anyway?”

Beca laughed “I’m honestly not sure what I pay anyone for anymore, but I do know I don’t pay you nearly enough.”

Jenifer laughed feeling better by the second until she saw Beca’s head snap up to look to the door of her office and heard her say “Hey, Good morning Chlo.”

Jenifer shrunk into her chair, she was dead. She knew it. That damn redhead was going to come in and cause the train wreck Jenifer had just, so narrowly avoided.

“Morning Becs. Ms. Frank.” Chloe said with a gleam of mischief in her eye.

“Ms. Bales.” Jenifer said, realizing it probably wasn’t the smartest move in the world, but not being able to help herself.

Chloe chuckled as Beca rolled her eyes.

“Becs I’m going to be out of the office most of the day so I wanted to ask you before I left, would you like to grab dinner tonight?”

“Sure Chlo, that sounds great! I’m open any time after seven thirty” Beca said brightly always being open to dinner with Chloe.

“OK cool, how about eight at that little Mexican place over on fourth?”

“Sure sounds good, I’ll meet you there.” Beca said smiling happily

“OK awesome.” Chloe said smiling back, turning to walk out of Beca’s office.

“Chlo?” Beca called out quickly.

Chloe turned back around “Yeah?”

“Have a good day.”

Chloe smiled her thousand gigawatt smile, before saying, her voice soft “Thanks Becs. You too!” and turned to walk out of the office.

I’m so boned. Jenifer thought watching the exchange.

* * *

 

Beca walked into the restaurant right at eight o’clock. The day had been even crazier than she was expecting and she was very much looking forward to spending a nice quiet evening with Chloe.

Beca walked toward the seating area and spotted Chloe immediately. She waived the host off quickly saying “Thank you but I’m meeting someone” when he tried to seat her, and walked toward the table to join her favorite redhead.

As Beca neared the table Chloe stood and opened her arms. Beca, pleasantly surprised, stepped into the offered hug, returning it gladly. Chloe wrapped her arms tightly around the small woman and rested her chin on her shoulder saying softly “Hey Becs.”

“Hey Chlo.” Beca said equally soft into a cloud of red hair that she was very happy to find out still smelled like sandalwood.

The hug was a little tighter and lasted a moment longer than was strictly necessary, but neither woman minded.

When they separated they both sat down and picked up the menus, falling into comfortable small talk about their days, while they decided on what to eat.

Beca was just finishing a story about a meeting she had had a few months back with a new band called  Cherry Crush when the waiter came up to take their order, they both placed their orders telling the waiter they would be on one check, both thinking they would be one to take care of it.

There was a brief moment of silence as they looked across the table at each other.

“Where’s Zay tonight?” Beca asked, trying to keep the light conversation going.

Chloe smiled. Beca cared enough about her son, who she had only met once, to wonder where he was. It wasn’t like it really surprised Chloe but it did make her unbelievably happy.

“Gabe’s got him tonight. He had tickets to the Dodger’s game and he wanted to take Zay to his first baseball game. I kept telling him that he’s too young to really grasp what’s going on, but Gabe just kept saying it’s a father son rite of passage. Whatever that means.” Chloe said laughing, the affection for both the guys in her life clear on her face.

Beca laughed too, she imagined the excitable little boy at Dodger’s Stadium, screaming in excitement every time the crowd went crazy. The thought made her laugh a little harder.

Chloe brought Beca out of her thoughts by saying that she needed to use the restroom and she’d be right back.

A few minutes later Chloe sat back down at the table and Beca felt the energy between them shift from light hearted to serious and saw the change mirrored in Chloe’s expression.

“Everything ok, Chlo?” Beca asked, worriedly.

“I need to talk to you about something Becs.”

Beca sighed heavily and chuckled humorlessly “You know I’ve never had a conversation that was good, that followed those words.”

Chloe smiled a smile that seemed to tell Beca, that wasn’t about to change any time soon, before sighing herself and pressing on.

“So Jenifer and I had dinner last night.” Chloe said jumping in with both feet.

Beca wasn’t sure why that thought filled her with as much dread as it did.

“Did you?” Beca asked surprised, Chloe nodded. “How did that go?”

“Well, it was insightful to say the least.”

“I can imagine it was.” Beca said trying to picture the two women sitting down for a meal without getting into a full on verbal, knock down drag out.

“Becs, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course Chlo. You can ask me anything, you know that.”

“Have you dated anyone in the last three years?”

Beca’s head spun at how quickly and drastically Chloe had changed the subject. She sputtered her answer. “Uh… well… uh… I guess… no… not really. Why?”

“I just needed a little confirmation.” Chloe said cryptically.

“Ok wait. I’m so confused right now. How exactly did we go from a story about you having dinner with Jen to my love life, exactly? And what confirmation are you talking about?”

When Chloe didn’t answer but just kept staring at Beca with a mixture of sadness and apprehension on her face, Beca reached across the table and took her hand.

“Chloe, whatever is bothering you, you can talk to me about it. I know we’re just starting to build our friendship again but I’m still the same old me and I still love you, nothing has changed there.”

A tear slipped from Chloe’s eye and made its way down her cheek. She knew, as much as she didn’t want to, she had to do this. She looked down at the hand in her lap and started to speak, hoping to get it all out quickly, the way she would have done in college. She desperately hoped she wasn’t making a huge mistake.

“Last night when I was having dinner with Jenifer, she told me about how depressed you’ve been for the last three years, about how she’s basically been running things at the office, and how she’s had to make sure you were eating and sleeping, and how there were times she was worried that you…” Chloe stopped, a few more tears escaping and making their way down her cheeks. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath before continuing “that you might kill yourself. She also told me that you had a dream about me a couple months ago, and how you were crying afterward and saying how you didn’t deserve another chance with me.”

Chloe left out the parts about Jenifer wanting to keep her away from Beca. Whether Jenifer knew it or not she had done Chloe and Beca both a great favor by doing what she did and Chloe was already afraid that she was getting Jenifer in more trouble than she’d know what to do about with Beca.

Chloe finally looked up. Beca’s expression was a mixture of shock, embarrassment, and anger. Her dark eyes shone with unshed tears.

“She had no right to tell you that.” Beca said, her voice low.

“No, Becs. Please don’t be angry with her.”

“Oh I’m so far beyond angry right now there isn’t even a word for what I am.” Beca spat “She betrayed me Chloe. To the one person…” Beca stopped, looking down at the table and pulling her hand back away from Chloe, the unshed tears finally starting to fall.

“Beca, please, no. I needed to know all of those things.”

“Why? Why, did you need to know them Chloe? So you’d know how pathetic and weak I really am?” Beca said, the anger and embarrassment waring for dominance in her voice.

“Beca, no.” Chloe said her heart breaking at the sound of Beca’s voice so full of pain. Pain she knew she was the cause of. “You are not pathetic or weak. You’re the strongest person I know, that I’ve ever known.”

Beca scoffed. “Right.”

Chloe was losing control of the situation quickly and she still had more that she needed to get out in the open. She changed tactics hoping to pull Beca out of her anger and back into the conversation.

 “I love you Beca.” Chloe said softly.

“I love you too Chloe. You know that.” Beca said automatically.

“No. That’s not what I mean.”  

Beca looked at Chloe, some of the anger showing on her face being replaced by confusion “Chlo, please. Whatever it is you are trying to say, just say it.”

Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I‘m in love with you Beca, and the only reason I didn’t tell you sooner than this, was because I thought you had moved on, and I didn’t want to end up hurting you again by opening up old wounds. I was willing to just be your friend again, just to have you back in my life at all, but Jenifer telling me what she did made me realize that once again you and I were both hiding our feelings thinking we were protecting the other one.”

When Beca didn’t say anything Chloe opened her eyes and looked up. Beca was sitting there, eyes wide and jaw slack, staring at her in complete disbelief.

Beca was pretty sure that her heart had stopped.  She had gone from hurt, angry, and betrayed, to ecstatic, with just six words. The six words that she felt like she had been waiting to hear her whole life.

With still nothing from Beca, Chloe chuckled nervously and said “Um… Beca? Now would be a really great time for you to say something. Anything really.”

Beca opened her mouth to speak, but before her brain could send the message to her mouth, she remembered the dream she had had two months ago and a thought occurred to her that scared the living hell out of her. She got up and walked around the small table to stand right next to Chloe and looked down into her crystal blue eyes.

“Pinch me.”

Chloe laughed nervously “Beca…”

“No.” Beca said cutting her off, her face deadly serious. “I’m not kidding. Pinch me.”

Chloe was beyond confused now.

“Beca. I’m not going to pinch you.” 

“Please.”

“No.”

“Chloe, I swear to God, I’m about two seconds from asking the people at the next table to pinch me if you won’t”

Chloe had no idea what the hell was going on in Beca’s head, but she didn’t want her making any more of a scene than she already was, so she reached up and softly pinched her side.

Beca shook her head.

“No, do it harder.”

“Beca.”

“Please, just do it.”

Having had enough of the weirdness, hoping if she actually did what Beca asked that she would stop acting crazy and explain herself, Chloe reached up and pinched Beca as hard as she could.

“Ow! Son of a…” Beca almost screamed before putting both hands over the spot where Chloe had just pinched her and bending over a bit.

“Shit Beca, I’m sorry. But you asked me…” Chloe started to respond but was quickly silenced by Beca’s lips on hers. Kissing her passionately. Beca pulled Chloe up from her chair and wrapped one arm tightly around her waist pressing their bodies together, and raising the other one to cup the side of her face. Chloe, quickly losing herself in the feel of Beca’s lips on hers and the feel of their bodies pressed together, wrapped her arms around Beca, holding her like her life depended on the contact. Both women were pouring every single emotion they had ever felt for each other into the kiss. Eight years of longing, stolen glances, secret smiles, three years of pain, depression, loneliness more profound that either thought the other would ever be able to understand, all distilled down into four lips pressing together for the first time. The kiss exceeding all the hopes and expectations that had been so breathlessly held for so many years.

As the kiss started to, subtly, turn more heated, Beca broke away, knowing this was neither the time nor the place. They stood together, each still rapt in the safety of the others arms. As Chloe took a shaky breath, Beca said, her lips brushing Chloe’s as she spoke “I am so, so very in love with you Chloe Beale and with God as my witness I will never let you go, ever again.”

* * *

 

After the kiss in the restaurant, they quickly asked for their food to be wrapped up to go. Thinking that the rest of this evening would go much smoother if they weren’t in public, just in case there were any more emotional moments or spontaneous kissing.

Thirty minutes later, after an argument about who would pay the bill, Chloe won, and the separate drive to Beca’s place, they sat in Beca’s living room talking and eating.

Chloe said around the bite of enchilada she had just taken “So seriously what was the whole pinching thing about?”

“Geeze, can’t a girl get a little kinky without the third degree?” Beca said trying to deflect the question.

Chloe laughed and poked Beca in the arm with her fork “No.” Both women laughed before Chloe spoke again “Seriously Becs that was weird, even for you.”

Chloe regretted asking as she watched Beca’s face fall a little bit.

“Remember the dream Jen told you I had two months ago?”

“Yeah.” Chloe said sadly.

“Well in the dream you were here and you told me you were in love with me. It all felt so real, and when I woke up and you weren’t here it really hit me hard.” Beca paused for a long moment before continuing “I guess I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming again.”

Chloe’s heart fractured a little at the words and she leaned forward pressing a sweet kiss to Beca’s lips, before sitting back, smiling and saying “I still can’t believe I get to do that whenever I want.”

Beca smiled back at her before leaning in and kissing her softly. “I know what you mean.”

They ate in comfortable silence for a few moment just basking in the newness of everything before Beca finally broke the silence.

“So I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did you and Zay end up in L.A.?”

“That’s a pretty cool story actually. Shortly after Zay was born, Gabe and I decided that we would always do our best to stay near each other so neither one of us had to miss out on any milestones in his life. So anyway, about a year ago, Gabe and his band were playing a show at this pretty prestigious bar in Chicago, when out of the blue this guy comes up to him and says he’s a music producer and he wants to sign his band.”

“Weird!”

“I know, right? Totes weird! Gabe didn’t believe it at first, but after some research he found out the guy was actually legit. He had just been there drinking with some buddies, but he liked the band so much he couldn’t not make them an offer. So once they got all the details worked out, the label gave Gabe the choice of moving to New York or L.A. and when he came and talked to me about it, I knew that you were here, so I said let’s go to L.A.”

“Didn’t you have a job or something?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t happy there. I was basically an over paid file clerk. I started looking for a new job out here once I had found a place to live, and I got the interview with Musicality.”

“Did you mention knowing me in the interview?” Beca didn’t really believe that her career had anything to do with Chloe getting the job or with them being back together but she couldn’t help but ask.

Chloe, having a good idea of what Beca was thinking, as usual, didn’t take offense.

“Nope, it never even came up, until I found out six months later we had put in a bid to be your PR firm. At that point I just couldn’t let it go, it was too perfect.”

Beca was a little confused. “What was too perfect?”

“Just the serendipity of it all. I had been trying to figure out a way to contact you or see you somehow, since before I actually got into town, but every time I tried to think of a way, I came up short. I didn’t even know if you’d want to see me again honestly. I know I wouldn’t have wanted to see me, but when the opportunity came to work with you, I thought it would be perfect. It would get me back in your life, and as long as you didn’t completely hate me I figured it would give me the chance to somehow, try to fix what I did and win you back.”

Beca tackled Chloe knocking her onto her back on the couch and letting her full weight rest on the redhead. Beca kissed the end of Chloe’s nose, smiled and said “Sorry Beale, but I’m the winner here.”

Chloe wrapped her arms around Beca and smiled back and said solemnly “No, believe me Mitchell, I’m the winner.” They looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment before Beca laid her head on Chloe’s chest and sighed contentedly.

The laid there on the couch for quite some time, Beca’s head on Chloe’s chest listening to the sound of her heart beat. They would occasionally talk, one of them telling the other a story from the last three years, or remembering something about their time as Bellas, or something that they had always wanted to tell the other.

After almost an hour Chloe said “I should probably get going Becs. It’s really getting late and my boss gets grumpy when I’m not on time for work.”

Beca laughed “I so do not! I only get grumpy when I haven’t had enough coffee.”

Chloe smiled “Fair enough, but I still should go, I’ve got a big day tomorrow and I need to get some sleep, and as it is I’m only going to get about five hours.”

“You know you’d get more sleep if you didn’t have to take the time to drive home.” Beca said, smiling hopefully.

Chloe laughed “I don’t think **sleep** is the term you’re looking for there, love.”

It was Beca’s turn to laugh before she turned suddenly quiet and serious “I’d just like to be close to you tonight Chlo. Please?”

When Chloe heard the almost pleading tone in Beca’s voice she knew there was no way she could actually say no. She smiled “Ok, but you better let me get some sleep Mitchell.” 

Beca’s face lit up like she was a five year old on Christmas morning who had just come downstairs to find a pony standing in the living room. Beca jumped up excitedly and grabbed Chloe’s hand pulling her up off the couch and leading her into the bedroom. She went into her closet and picked out pajamas for her and Chloe and came back out handing the clothes to Chloe and telling her there was a spare toothbrush in the drawer on the left in the bathroom.

Chloe laughed brightly at Beca’s excitement as she went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Ten minutes later after having switched out who got the bathroom three times they were finally in bed Beca laying on her back and Chloe nuzzled under her arm, her head on Beca’s chest.  

Beca was almost asleep when she felt Chloe lean up on her elbow. Beca opened her eyes to find Chloe looking directly at her, her face unreadable.

“What’s up Chlo?” Beca asked sleepiness clear in her voice.

“How did I ever get so lucky? Chloe asked still staring at Beca.

Beca chuckled, normally she would have given a flip answer about Chloe needing to have her head checked or something similar but the serious look on Chloe’s face kept her from it. She said simply “I’ve been asking myself the same question since that day you showed up in my shower freshmen year.”

Chloe smiled and started to tear up again. She leaned forward kissed Beca soft and slow before putting her head back on Beca’s chest and saying, voice full of emotion “I love you so much.”

“Not as much as I love you.” Beca replied, squeezing Chloe a little tighter to her side and rubbing her back in small circles, before both of them drifted off into a deep contented sleep.

* * *

 

 

“GET YOUR ASS UP MITCHELL, YOU HAVE THINGS TO DO.” 

Beca groaned loudly as she heard her incredibly annoying alarm go off. She reached to grab her phone and turn it off as she heard a rustle and a loud thud. She quickly switched the alarm off and turned to look in the direction of the sound.

She was met with the sight of empty sheets, but didn’t even have time to get confused, before she saw a sleep tousled redhead with very confused, very sleepy, impossibly crystal clear blue eyes poke her head up over the edge of the bed.

“Bree?” Chloe asked, looking around the room for their former captain.

Beca laughed loud and bright.

“No worries, Chlo. Aubrey isn’t here. I just got her to record an alarm notification for me when we took that retreat, to The Lodge of Fallen Leaves, senior year. Her voice could wake the dead and when I’m deep asleep… well you know.” Beca said, still laughing at the redhead now sitting on the bed with her legs crossed rubbing her eyes sleepily.

Chloe laughed too “That was just so weird, I had a dream once that Bree walked in on us in bed one morning. We kept trying to tell her we hadn’t been doing anything, even though in the dream we totes had, but she wouldn’t believe us.”

Beca laughed loudly “So you dream about me, huh Beale?”

Chloe laughed shyly and blushed before laying back down next to Beca, wrapping her arms around her waist and nuzzling her face into Beca’s shoulder.

“Quite a bit.” Chloe said simply.

Beca pulled Chloe tighter against her and hummed contentedly, kissing the top of her red head.

“I’m in love with you Chloe Beale.”

Beca felt Chloe smile against her shoulder.

“I’m in love with you too Beca Mitchell.”

They laid there together, silently, just enjoying each other’s presence, and the feel of their bodies pressed so closely together until Aubrey’s voice came screaming out of Beca’s phone again. Chloe jumped and Beca laughed again before reaching over and silencing the alarm.

“Ok, we’ve gotta get up.”

Chloe held on to Beca as she tried to sit up “No, I just wanna stay here all day in your arms.”

Beca smiled and kissed the top of her head again. “Believe me Chlo, there’s nothing I want more, but I’ve got a ton of meetings scheduled for today that I can’t get out of.”

Chloe whined, and looked at Beca pouting, her eyes big, blue and sad.

“Don’t look at me like that Beale.” Beca said, her voice soft, leaning in to place soft kisses against Chloe’s pouted lips.

Chloe smiled into the kisses. “I’ll look at you however I like Mitchell. You know why?”

“Why?” Beca asked, pulling back and smiling.

“Because you’re mine.” 

Beca stopped breathing for a moment, she wanted to cry, laugh, and scream from the rooftops all at the same time. Instead she took a deep breath and said simply, hoping she could convey with her voice alone, how much the words meant to her.

“And you’re mine.”

* * *

 

An hour later Beca was up, dressed, and saying goodbye to Chloe, after much protesting.

“Chloe you could just wear something of mine to work today.”

“No offence Becs, but if I tried to wear your clothes, I would look like I raided Zay’s closet.”

“Hey, that’s not true. I’ve got a good two feet on the little dude.” Beca pouted playfully

Chloe laughed “Yeah, and that’s about how much I have on you, so…”

That earned Chloe a playful poke in the side. She smiled and leaned over pressing a quick kiss to the corner of Beca’s mouth.

“See you at the office. I love you.”

Beca’s heart melted once again at the words.

“You know I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to hearing that… And I love you too.” Beca said a very uncharacteristic grin threatening to split her face in two.

Chloe smiled a sweet smile at her before turning and walking out the door.

* * *

 

When Beca got to the office she made a quick stop by Chloe’s office.

She knocked softly on the door frame. When Chloe looked up Beca said “Good morning Ms. Beale.”

Chloe smiled and blushed “Good morning Ms. Mitchell. How are you this morning?”

“I am incredibly well thank you, and yourself?”

“The same.”

Both women broke out in laughter, not being able to keep up the game anymore.

“Have a good day Chlo.”

“You too Becs.”

Beca waved over her shoulder as she walked out and down the hall to her office grinning like an idiot. She stopped just outside the door to her pre office and tried to get her face into a more serious look. She wasn’t really angry at Jen anymore but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make her squirm a bit for spilling her secrets to Chloe.

Beca walked in with an authoritative air. Jenifer, who was sitting at her desk, looked up when Beca walked in and shrunk in her chair.

“Jenifer, can I see you in my office please?” Beca said, her tone flat.

“Sure.” Jenifer said, sounding small, and quickly got up to follow Beca into her office.

Beca walked around her desk, motioned to the chair in front of her desk, and finally sat down in her own chair.

Jenifer sat down and spoke, trying, and failing, to sound normal “What’s up Beca?”

“I had dinner with Chloe last night.” Beca said keeping the tone of her voice as flat as possible.

“I remember her asking you yesterday. Have fun?” Jenifer said her nervousness becoming clearer and clearer in her voice and mannerisms.

Beca ignored the question “She told me you guys had dinner two nights ago.” Beca let the statement hang in the air.

Shit! She knows. Jen thought. She didn’t know if it was better to just start spilling her guts or to keep playing dumb, she went for the middle ground.

“Yeah, we met over at Mario’s.”

“Uh-hu. I know.” Beca said, waiting to see what Jenifer would do.

Jenifer just looked at Beca blankly. She felt like she was facing a firing squad, and she’d be damned if she would be the one to yell fire.

Beca was actually starting to feel bad for Jen so she decided to end it.

“She told me all the things you told her, and I just wanted to say thank you.” Beca said finishing with a smile.

“Beca, listen I can expla… Wait what?” Jen said, confused.

Beca laughed which only confused Jenifer more. “I want to say thank you, when you told Chloe all the things you did, about the last three years, it made her realize that I was still in love with her. Which apparently she didn’t know, somehow, but anyway we talked last night and we’re together now. Finally.”

Beca finished almost giddily.

“What!?” Jenifer almost yelled in disbelief.

“I know right!” Beca said mistaking Jenifer’s disbelief for excitement.

“Wow that’s great!” Jenifer said trying to sound excited and fake a smile.

This was the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen, Jenifer screamed in her head. Bales was supposed to run away from Beca not straight into her arms. Jenifer suddenly realized that she had underestimated the redhead, she still wasn’t sure what her game was but she did realized that if operation tit punch was going to be a success she was going to have to step her own game up. Big time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So here we are, together at last! So how does everyone fell about the reunion? Did I do our girls justice? How do you all feel about Jen at this point? You know I love to hear what you guys think!
> 
> Side note: As always feel free to follow me on tumblr at the-breaths-of-chloe. 
> 
> Toodles for now awesome nerds!!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: ‘Ello everybody! I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get this out to you, work has been crazy and I started re-tiling my kitchen floor with my mom and Lezlife last weekend and the project that we were expecting to take two days is still going on. I'd really like to get my stove out of my dining room and back into the kitchen, but I digress. On top of all of that my writer’s block has had my creativity locked in a closet somewhere, and won't tell me where. :( So I apologize if this sucks! I’ve tried to power through. This chapter is pure fluff so enjoy! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own any copyrighted/patented material used or described in this chapter.

Beca woke  to a heavy pounding on her front door. She groan ed  and  sat  up, looking at her phone to check the time. Eight thirty on a Saturday? Who the hell would be pounding on her door at this ungodly hour? She  thought ,  getting more annoyed as  the pounding got  more and more insistent. 

Beca grab bed  her robe off the back of her closet door, yelling “Coming” before getting to the door and opening it wide. 

Beca wanted to be annoyed, she really did , but seeing her favorite redhead , turned girlfriend,  standing in front of her with a coffee in her  outstretched hand seemed  to suck all the annoyance  out of her body, and she smiled . 

She accepted  the offered coffee and kiss gladly, before taking a long drink from the cup an d  saying. 

“Not that I’m not glad to see you  Chlo , but why the hell are you pounding on my door at this  awful  hour?” 

Chloe laughed, Beca was no more of morning person now, than she had been  three  years ago. 

“Beca , r emember you said you’d come to the carnival with me and  Zay  today.” 

“Oh right!” Beca said face palming herself. “Just let me go get ready real quick.” She  finished  as she  turned and  started to walk back to her bedroom. 

“Wait.” Chloe called out

Beca stopped and turned  back  quickly. Chloe walked  over to her slowly,  making Beca feel like she was being stalked. Chloe stopped, reached out and pulled Beca against her by her hips, her thumbs making their way under Beca’s sleep shirt to rub little circles on the soft skin there, making Beca’s breath hitch. Chloe smiled at the sound and said, her voice soft and low “Good morning sunshine.” 

“G… G oo...  G ood morning.” Beca managed to stutter out despite her ,  suddenly ,  fantastically dry mouth. 

Chloe closed the small distance between them and claimed Beca’s lips in a soft,  passionate kiss , making Beca’s pulse race.  

Chloe, all too soon for Beca’ s liking, broke the kiss ,  pulled back and spun Beca around by her shoulders before giving her a light smack on the rear end and saying  “ O k ,  go get ready ” . 

That woman is going to be the li teral death of me, Beca thought as she walked down the hall to her bedroom  shaking her head . 

* * *

Beca and Chloe had only been official for one full day. I t was a very strange feeling. N othing other than confessions of feelings had happened, so really nothing had changed, but at the same time everything was so different. 

They had gone out to dinner the night before and had a long soul searching discussion about everything.  Both deciding it was best to take things, as far as their relationship was concerned, slowly. They both had come too far and worked too hard to get where they were to screw th ings up because they rushed it ,  but after the searing kiss Chloe had just given her and waking up to the redhead at her door instead of in her bed, Beca was starting to question the wisdom of their decision. 

* * *

Twenty minutes later Beca was dressed and walking back into her living r oom, to find Chloe on  the couch playing a game on her phone. 

“Ready?” Beca asked 

“Yep.” Chloe said getting off the couch and looking over at Beca “You look cute.”

Beca blushed and looked down. “Thanks.”

“Beca, are you going to blush and get all shy every time I give you any sort of compliment?” 

Beca schooled her expression into  one  of indifference, but blushed harder, and said flatly “Probably”

Chloe lifted Beca’s chin with her finger before pressing a quick kiss to her lips  and saying  “Good. It’s adorable.” 

Beca couldn’t help but laugh “I am  so  not adorable” 

Chloe walked to the front door, still smiling, and opened it before saying over her shoulder as she walked out “So adorable.”

Beca smiled at the empty space where Chloe just was ,  before saying out  loud.

“Yep, the death of me. No question.”

* * *

In the car ,  Beca was flipping through the radio station presets, not finding anything to her liking she asked “Is there  an  aux input in here?” 

“Yep it’s over on your side of the consul, the audio cord is in the glove box.” Chloe said watching Beca and smiling, she had missed her DJ being in control of the soundtrack of her life. 

Beca  plugged in her phone and  put the joint playlist that they had made in college o n shuffle . The first song to come on was Titanium. 

“OMG! Beca I haven’t heard this song in so long.” 

Beca was shocked “What? How have you not listened to this song?”

Chloe’s face fell “It hurt too  bad .”  She said sadly .

Beca reached over and grabbed Chloe’s hand that wasn’t on the steering wheel and squeezed it. Chloe interlaced their fingers and kept both their hands in her lap as Beca started to sing, when she got to the chorus ,  Chloe joined in harmonizing the way she had the day she barged into Beca’s shower.  They continued to sing the rest of the song in perfect harmony getting louder and louder as the song built.

When the song was over they both were misty eyed, Beca unfastened her seatbelt and leaned over placing a sweet kiss on the corner of Chloe’s mouth before saying “I love you Chloe.” 

A single tear fell down Chloe’s cheek. “I love you too Beca.”  

The rest of the car ride was pleasantly uneventful, filled with small talk and singing. When they reached  their destination both women got out of the car. 

“Wow, this is Gabe’s place?” Beca asked looking at the very nice house they were standing in front of. 

“Yep. That was one of the stipulation of his contract, he needed a ho use that would be good for raising a little one .”

“Man, his band must be really incredible for the label to agree to all this.” She said waving her hand in the direction of the house they were walking up to. 

“Yeah ,  they are really good.” Chloe said proudly.

When they got to the front door Chloe opened it and walked  I n ,  Beca  hot  on her heels. 

“Zay? Gabe?” Chloe called out. 

“MOMMY!” Came the little boy’s screech from  somewhere in  the back of the house , followed closely by the sound of little feet running .  Zay rounded the corner and charged forward crashing into Chloe’s legs wrapping his tiny arms around them. 

Chloe laughed “Hi Buggy Bear. Having fun with Daddy?”

“Yes.” Zay said happily.

“Ready for the carnival?” 

“Yes!” Zay almost screamed before detaching himself from his mother’s legs and quickly moving over to hug Beca’s legs “Hi Lady!” 

Chloe and Beca both laughed.

“Hi Zay!” Beca said trying to match the little boy’s excitement. 

Chloe picked Zay up and set him on her hip,  “ Zay  this is Beca. ”

“Bec.” He said repeating her name as best he could. 

“Very good!” Chloe praised. “She’s going to come to the carnival with us today ,  ok?”

The little boy’s face lit up even more “Yay, Bec!” He said  smiling and reaching out for Beca .

Beca looked to Chloe, who couldn’t help but chuckle at the other woman’ s questioning look . 

“Go ahead.” She said leaning over so Beca could reach Zay easier. 

Beca  took the little boy and set him on her hip.  Chloe smiled at them, she knew after  their  long conversation  that  Beca  was very fond of her little boy and wanted to be a big part of his life, but she was also totally clueless when it came to children. 

“Thanks for letting me hang out with you and Mommy today.” Beca said poking Zay in the tummy earning a giggle from the boy who nodded and nuzzled into her shoulder. 

“He likes you.” Chloe said beaming at the pair. 

Beca smiled, her gaze bouncing bac k  and forth between the little boy on her hip and the redhead standing next to her. “I like him too.”

Gabe came around the corner and smiled when he saw the three of them. 

“Hey, sorry. I was on a call with my manager.” He said leaning in to place a quick kiss on Chloe’s cheek before holding his hand out to Beca “Hey DJ” 

Beca took the offered hand and laughed “Hey Gabe, and  Beca  is fine, thanks.” 

“Cool!” He said smiling “So you guys are off to the carnival, huh?” 

“Yep.” Zay said happily as Chloe and Beca chuckled.

“Alright,  well  have a good time!” 

“Ok Daddy!” 

“Thanks Gabe!” Chloe said to Gabe before turning to Beca and Zay “Ready to go?” 

Zay nodded vigorously and Beca said “Yep.” 

They all said their goodbyes and headed for the car. 

After a full five minutes of trying ,  Beca finally got Zay buckled into his car seat, why do they have to make these things so complicated anyway, and they were on their way. 

The ride to the carnival grounds was fairly uneventful, Zay sat in his car seat in the back seat looking out the window and babbling to himself, while Chloe and Beca sat in the front , holding hands and  softly singing to the radio. 

* * *

Once they were parked and out of the car, Zay having been extracted from the  “ miserable contraption ” as Beca called it, Zay tugged on Beca’s hand and said “Bec?” 

“What’s up Zay?” 

Zay looked at her and patted his shoulder. 

B eca , thinking the gesture was adorable,  smiled at the boy and patted her own shoulder. 

He giggled and said “No. Bec.”  And patted his shoulder again. 

Beca, thoroughly confused, looked at Chloe, who had just walked around the car to join them ,  for clarification. 

Chloe laughed “He wants to ride on your shoulders. That’s how Gabe carries him most of the time.” 

“Oh, ok. I can do that… " Beca said with a resolute nod, but  quickly added " How do I do that?” 

Chloe laughed again, she had a feeling that between her son and her girlfriend she would never cease to be amused, ever. 

"Well usually Gabe just picks him up and lifts him over his head, but I can put him up there if you'd like." 

Beca, whose eyes had gone a little wider than usual at the idea of lifting the little boy , who was half her height,  over her own head , smiled and nodded at the offer. 

Chloe walked around picking Zay up and lifting him over Beca's head and situating him on her shoulders, before instructing Beca to grab his legs and make sure to hold on to him. Zay crossed his arms, resting them on the top of Beca's head and resting his chin on his arms.  Chloe stepped back and looked at them, it was almost too cute to bear. She couldn't believe this was her life now. 

"Ready?" She said quickly, before she had a chance to tear up. 

"Yep, I think we're good to go." Beca said smiling. 

Beca shifted her arm to hold both of Zay's feet with one hand and grabbed Chloe's ha n d with the other as they made their way into the Fairgrounds. 

As soon as they walked through  the gate they were assaulted with all the sights, smells and sounds that go along with a carnival. Flashing lights on the games, people milling around looking at all the sights, the smells of funnel cake and cotton candy, the screams of kids on the small roller coaster. 

Zay looked around wide eyed and squealed in pure excitement and joy. Beca and Chloe laughed. 

"So where do you wanna go first, Little Dude?" Beca asked the boy on her shoulders.

"Ice cream" he said excitedly

Beca looked at Chloe for confirmation. 

"Well if the Little Dude wants ice cream, let's get him some ice cream." Chloe said smiling at  Beca's  pet name for Zay. 

"Ok ,  ice cream it is." Beca said taking off in the direction all the smells were coming from. 

After standing in line at the little green and pink hut labeled ice cream for what seemed like forever they were finally up to the window. Beca ordered three cones , paid  and handed one to Chloe and then one to  Zay  before taking her own. 

"Uh, Beca maybe we should sit down while we eat these." Chloe said pointing to Zay. 

"Nah, it's cool. I don't mind." Beca said 

"Are you sure?" Chloe asked not being sure Beca really understood the potential for catastrophe she was asking for ,  letting the little boy eat an ice cream cone while on her shoulders. 

"Yep, I got this." Beca said smiling her cocky smile.

"What ever  you say." Chloe said, answering with a cock smile of her own . 

They were walking down the midway hand in hand again, looking at all the vendors, when one lick too many sent Zay's ice cream tumbling onto the top of Beca's head. 

"Woah, ahhh, cold !" Beca almost screamed as Zay muttered a sad "Uh oh, ice cream ."

Chloe covered her mouth to try and stifle her laugh. " This is why I said we should sit down to eat our ice cream." She said, trying her very hardest to not come right out and say I told you so. 

Beca gave her a sideways look. "No ,  it's fine. It's refreshing actually. I was getting kind of hot anyway." 

Chloe burst out laughing. Not only was Beca totally adorable with her son on her shoulders and a huge glob of ice cream on the top of her head,  but Chloe was also relieved that Beca hadn't freaked out. Kids were cute and fun to be around, but it could easily become a different story when you're standing in the middle of a fairground with ice cream in your hair and starting to drip  down your face. 

"Here, I'll grab Zay and you go get cleaned up." 

Chloe grabbed Zay and pulled him off Beca's shoulders as Beca scrunched her face and  grabbed a  handful of ice cream out of her hair and tossed it in the trash can next to her. 

"Thanks." She said to Chloe a nd then  kneeled  down to look at Zay and hand  him her own ice cream cone saying "Here Little Dude, you can finish mine." 

Zay squealed happily before saying , a round a mouthful of ice cream. "Thanks Bec." 

Chloe watched them, smiling and  feeling like her heart might explode from all the love and care that  Beca  was showing her son.  She always had a feeling that Beca would be a good parent, but she also knew that stepping into a ready made family could be hard.  I t was  still  very soon to tell but it looked like Beca was going to try her hardest to rise to the occasion which made Chloe love her that much more . 

* * *

A few minutes later Beca came out of the bathroom, her hair wet and pulled back into a low ponytail.  When Zay saw her he reached up with the hand that wasn't holding the ice cream cone and patted his shoulder with the other. 

Beca  laughed. "Why don't we wait until  you're done with your ice cream before we put you back up there, huh?" 

Zay shrugged and nodded his reluctant consent as Chloe took his free hand. 

"So where t o?" Chloe asked.

Zay shrugged seemingly content for the moment with his ice cream. 

"Um" Beca said "we could head over towards the rides. There's gotta be something to do over that way." 

"Sure that sounds good." Chloe said. 

They walked through the growing crowd making small talk as they went. Zay ,  having finished his ice cream cone ,  was walking between Beca and Chloe each one of them holding one of his hands. 

As they were walking an older woman stopped them. 

"Excuse me?" She said smiling at them. 

"Yes?" Chloe said, in her always friendly tone. 

"I just wanted to tell you both that you have a lovely son." She said pointing at Zay "It's so nice to see young couples out having a family day." 

"Oh... well...  he's not.." Beca started to say getting flustered almost immediately ,  before Chloe cut her off. 

"Thank you." Chloe said simply, beaming at the kind woman. 

Beca looked at Chloe shocked before her expression quickly morphed into one that looked like she had just been told she won the lottery and a lifetime supply of strawberry milk. 

"Yeah, thank you."  Beca  said quickly as the woman smiled at them and waved bye to Zay. 

Beca stood beaming at Chloe. 

"What?" Chloe asked laughing. 

"You didn't say Zay wasn't mine, you just said thank you."  Beca  said emotion lacing the happy tone of her voice. 

"Well, yeah. I mean it's not exactly untrue. I mean ,  it won't be eventually... Right?" Chloe asked a bit of concern tugging the corners of her smile. 

Beca leaned forward and kissed Chloe sweetly. She didn't know what she had done to deserve this life but she knew in that moment that she would do whatever it took to be everything that this little family, her little family needed. 

The moment was broken all too soon when Zay, who had gotten bored, tugged on both of their hands saying "Mommy!  Bec !" 

Beca pulled away from Chloe before picking Zay up and peppering his face with kisses as he giggled while Chloe looked on and laughed. 

When Beca was done kissing Zay and he had had enough time to wipe his face while smiling and saying "Ewwww Bec" earning a hearty laugh from both women, they were back to walking in the direction of the rides and talking happily, Zay still on Beca's hip. When Zay saw something  ,  screamed in excitement  a nd started pointing wildly. Beca and Chloe both looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a small petting zoo, with llamas, goats, sheep, and a few birds scattered about. 

"OOOOO petting zoo. Can we go?" Beca said . 

Chloe laughed, she wasn't sure who was more excited Beca or Zay. "Yeah  let ' s  go." She said. 

"Yay !"  Beca  and  Zay  said in unison which made Chloe laugh even harder. 

Chloe op ted to stand outside the fence and watch, never having liked  barn yard  animals much. 

She watched as Beca took Zay around to all the different animals and let him pet them and making sure he was gentle enough before petting them herself. Beca bought them both a handful of animal food from the little quarter machine and showed Zay how to hold his hand flat to feed the goats so he wouldn't get bitten and then went around telling the little boy what sound each animal made. 

Not for the first time that day Chloe thought that she had never been more in love with Beca than she was at that very moment. She wasn't sure how much more in love with her she could get ,  but every moment they spent together like this she kept finding out. 

The rest of the day was spent doing everything they possibly could, they rode the ferris wheel and got to hear  Zay  oo o and ah when they would get to the top and he could see out over the  sky line  of the city, they ate funnel cake and cotton candy and drank homemade root beer,  Beca had spent fifty dollars winning Zay a stuffed hammer and Chloe a little pink bear at one of the carnival games. By the time they left  t hey had been at the carnival for three and a half hours, they were hot, tired, sticky, and happier than any of them had ever been. 

* * *

Zay was asleep by the time they got back to Chloe's and after gently getting him from his car seat and laying him down in his bed for a nap ,  Beca and Chloe stood in the door to his room watching him sleep ,  Beca's arms around Chloe's waist and her head on her shoulder. 

"He is adorable when he's sleeping." Beca whispered. 

"Yeah he is" Chloe whispered back smiling. 

Chloe gently pulled Beca out of the door way  and closed the door before wiggling her eyebrows at her and saying.

"You know what I'm thinking?" 

"That Mommy needs a nap too?" Beca asked laughing.

Chloe laughed "Yep exactly."

They walked back to Chloe's bedroom and laid down both falling asleep almost instantly, comfortable in each others arms. 

* * *

 

 

Two hours later Beca felt something poke her face, she swatted at whatever was poking her and heard a giggle. She opened her eyes and saw Zay staring back at her from inches away. 

"Hi Bec." He said smiling.

Beca laughed "Hi Zay." 

"Bec?" 

"Yeah , Zay ?" 

"Hungry" He said, the tone of his little voice making it clear he expected something to be done about it. 

"You are huh?" Beca asked and Zay nodded. "Well, we better wake Mommy up then." 

With the simple confirmation from Beca, Zay quickly turned over and launched himself onto his mother's side squealing "Mommy, wake up! " 

Chloe rolled over and wrapped her arms around the little boy "Hi Buggy Bear." She said her voice still laced heavily with sleep. 

Zay settled on top of Chloe and looked up at her "Mommy, hungry." 

"Are you?" 

"Mmm hmm." 

"Well we better get you some dinner then." 

"Yay!" Zay yelled before jumping off of Chloe and running out of the room. 

Beca scooted up against Chloe and wrapped her arm around her waist. 

"I wish I had a quarter of his energy." Beca said placing a quick kiss against Chloe's lips. 

"Mmm hmm, me too." Chloe nodded. 

With a sigh both women got out of bed and made their way to the kitchen to find Zay standing with his head in the fridge, they both laughed and Zay turned around smiling. 

"So what are you hungry for  bugg y ?" Chloe asked

"Pizza!" 

Chloe laughed "I  sho uld  have guessed." 

"I take it that's a common request?" Beca asked, as Chloe pulled a pizza out of the freezer.

Zay nodded as Chloe ruffled his hair, w alking  by him on her way to the oven. 

"Oh yeah, he's been pizza crazy for a few months now. I swear h e'd eat it for every meal if I'd let him." 

Zay nodded in confirmation as Beca picked him up and set him on her hip. She walked over to the stove and sat Zay on the counter so they could both watch what Chloe was doing. 

Chloe smiled and kissed them both on the end of nose before unwrapping the frozen pizza and putting in on a pan and into the oven. She shut the oven door and leaned back against it looking over at her two favorite people in the world. 

"And now we wait." 

* * *

Fo rty  five minutes later the pizza was done and the three of them were settling down on the couch to watch a movie while they ate. 

Chloe looked at Zay, who was situated between her and  Beca  and asked "So what movie do you want to watch?" 

"Panda!" Zay said excitedly. 

"Ok Panda it is." Chloe said as she grabbed the remote for her Apple TV and started to navigate to the movie. 

Beca  started to make a snarky comment about having to watch a kids movie but quickly bit it back, suddenly realizing that this was going to be a part of her life now that she had a kid. Wait... what?  A kid in my life, she thought, that's what I meant, a kid in my life. 

She was brought out of her thoughts as the opening scenes of the movie flared to life on the large TV screen. 

"So what movie is this?" Beca asked Chloe quietly. 

"It's called Kung Fu Panda. It's  Zay's  favorite right now." Chloe answered her eyes never leaving the screen. 

"Ah, and what's it about exactly?" 

Chloe chuckled she was impressed by Beca's lack of comment on having to watch a children's movie but should have known that she couldn't let it go with out  saying  something . 

"It's about a panda who wants to learn to do kung fu." 

Beca swallowed the comment on the tip of her tongue about how she could have figured that out for herself  from the title and just smiled at Chloe before turning to watch the movie. 

A few minutes in and Beca  turned to look at Chloe again. "Why isn't the turtle wearing pants?" 

"What?" 

"Why isn't the turtle wearing pants? I mean all the other animals are wearing clothes, even the birds are wearing clothes, so why isn't the turtle?" Beca asked  genuinely  curious. 

"Well..." Chloe started, her brain scrambling to come up with an answer "Because he has a shell and doesn't need clothes." She finally arrived at. 

"But that doesn't make sense." Beca said flatly "that's like saying the panda doesn't need c lothes  because he has fur. The shell isn't some cover ing  that the turtle wears like a hermit crab or something it's a part of his body , therefore he should be wearing pants and  i t's rather indecent that he's not." 

Chloe looked at Beca wide eyed, she was  ser ious , at least as serious as someone could be talking about the characters of a cartoon. 

"I'm just sayin." Beca said, when Chloe didn't make any kind of comment , before looking back to the screen. 

Chloe was shocked, she couldn't believe they were actually having this conversation, but despite her shock,  she was not about to let it go so easily. 

"Beca, he's a turtle. He has a shell, yes it is part of his body but it also covers anything that could be considered indecent ." 

"Birds aren't indecent in their natural state, their feathers cover everything, but every bird we've seen so far is wearing some kind of clothes." Beca said smiling, she was having fun debating with Chloe. "So again why isn't the turtle?" 

Chloe sighed, she knew she was going to have to come up with something terribly clever it she was going to win this debate. 

"Oh, I know."  Beca  said, before Chloe could think of anything "Maybe he's, like so old he's totally dotty, and that's why no one cares that he's not wearing pants. Like when old senile guys walk around with their junk waving about and no one really bats an eye about it."

"Beca!" Chloe half yelled, moving  to cover Zay's ears before falling over in a fit of laughter. 

"What?" Beca said laughing almost as hard as Chloe. "It's true." 

Their laughing fit died down abruptly as Zay, who was still trying to watch his favorite movie, looked at them both  disapprovingly . 

Chloe knew she had lost the debate anyway, there was no coming back after a comment like that. She pulled  Zay  up into her lap and scooted over so she could rest her head on Beca's shoulder, as  Beca  put her arm around Chloe  and pulled her in a bit closer. Beca kissed Chloe on top of the head and as she looked down at her new family she  thought, this has to be as close to perfection as anyone could ever get. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Fluffy, fluffy, floof! :) Hope it lived up to the expectations. As always comments/suggestions/bitches are always welcomed and encouraged. I love hearing what you guys think! :) 
> 
> Side note: The conversation that Beca and Chloe have about Master Oogway's lack of clothing in Kung Fu Panda is based on a real life convo that my girlfriend and I had a few days ago. I, of course, having Beca's point of view that he should have totally been wearing pants. Lol!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Be forewarned, this chapter is the adult content your parents (and the story summary lol) warned you about. There are very, very adult things happening in this chapter. Like adults, doing adult things, to each other’s adult things. Lots of adulting to be had. So there ya go. Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: Don’t own Pitch Perfect 1 or 2, or Titanium. I’m totes, Dixie Chicks, serious.

 

Beca  was elbow deep in paperwork when she heard the text tone she had set for Chloe go off. She put down her papers ,  with a smile ,  and grabbed her phone ,  quickly swiping the screen to unlock it. All recent PR issues had been taken care of and there were no big album releases or anything similar coming up that would require a press release ,  so Chloe had taken the day off.

I’m bored.  The message waiting for her said

Zay  isn’t being entertaining enough?  Beca  text back, having recently learned firsthand how energetic and entertaining the little boy could be. 

He isn’t here. Gabe picked him up about an hour ago. 

Why? I thought you had him for the next week.

Gabe just booked a couple of shows in San Francisco and will be gone for a couple weeks. He wanted to spend some time with him before he left. 

Aw sad, I was hoping for an excuse to watch the panda movie again.

Lol ! You should come over.

I would love to, like more than you know , but some of us ha ve jobs we have to attend to .

I’m sure Red Industries wouldn’t crumble to the ground in the absence of the great Rebecca Mitchell for one afternoon. ;P

That hurts Beale! 

You know you love me! ;)

Yes ,  that is the one thing I do know. :) I’ll see if I can skip out early this afternoon, but I make no promises.

:D That’s all a girl can ask for. Love you!! !!

Love you too! 

* * *

Two hours later and  Beca  was starting to get restless . T he idea of spending the rest of the day with Chloe weighing heavier on her mind by the second. Before she even really realized she had done anything she had pushed the intercom button on her phone system and  Jenifer  was answering. 

“Hey Boss. What’s up?”

“Hey Jen. What’s my schedule look like for the rest of the day?” 

“I was actually just about to call you. You’re twelve o’clock meeting canceled and your two thirty moved to Thursday. The only thing you have left for today is a three thirty  with our distributor.”

Beca  couldn’t help the grin that threatened to split her face  in two . 

“Awesome! Could you reschedule the distributor for later this week or next. I need some time this afternoon.” 

“Yeah I can do that ,  no problem. Everything ok?” 

“Yep, everything’s great!”  Beca  said excitedly. 

“Ok? Well good.”  Jenifer  said ,  confused. 

“Yep! Thanks Jen.”  Beca  said as she disconnected the call. 

Twenty minutes later , Beca  had finished the last of her paperwork, and was walking out the door. 

She had thought about texting Chloe to let her know she was on her way but decided that it would be better to surprise her. Chloe had given her a key to her house earlier in the week and told her that she was welcome to use it anytime. 

The drive to Chloe's  hou se  was uneventful and  once she got there , Beca  had to concentrate to keep herself from running up the driveway . It wasn't often that  she a nd  Chloe  got to spend a lazy afternoon ,  doing nothing  together  and  Beca  didn't want to waste even a moment  not in the presence of her favorite redhead . 

Once in the house,  Beca  was just about to call out to Chloe when she heard music coming from  somewhere in the  back . She smiled, where there was  music  there was  Chloe . 

She took off her shoes and laid them by the front door so she could walk silently across the hardwood floors of Chloe's house.  Beca  had always loved watching Chloe, even when Chloe knew she was watching her, but  Beca  loved it the most when she could catch Chloe off guard and just watch her be herself  for a few moments , which is exactly what she hoped to be able to do. 

Beca  followed the music down the main hallway. It seemed to be coming from Chloe's bedroom. As  Beca  walked ,  an image popped into her head of Chloe in sweatpants and a tank top, barefoot, with her hair pulled up into a messy bun ,  dancing around while folding laundry ,  and she smiled. 

As  Beca  got closer she noticed the song playing was "Titanium" and her smile grew a bit more at not only the many memories she had of singing the song with Chloe but also because she knew that she had made Chloe happy enough to be able to listen to it again. 

Finally at the end of the hall,  Beca  pushed the bedroom door open slightly ,  trying to see where Chloe was without alerting her that she was there.  Beca's  eyes flitted around the room ,  finally resting on the bed . S he couldn't believe what she saw. Chloe was laying on the bed wearing a dark blue tank top, a sheet pulled up  to her waist  with her head thrown back and her hand moving rhythmically under the covers.  Beca , being fairly  embarrassed ,  was just about to close the door, walk away and come back in a few minutes pretending she hadn't seen anything when she heard Chloe call out "Oh,  Becs , right there." 

Beca's  mouth fell open. Chloe was thinking about her, calling out to her, while doing... that. Emboldened by Chloe's cry,  Beca  quietly pushed the door open all the way and leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms over her chest .  A ll traces of embarrassment overwhelmed by the arousal now coursing  th r ough  her . 

"Oh  Beca , yes." Chloe called again, throwing her head back farther into the pillow. 

Beca  felt heat coiling low in her belly at the desperation in Chloe's tone and at the breathless quality her voice had as she said her name. So as the chorus of "Titanium" started to play,  Beca  started to sing.  

Chloe jumped and opened her eyes, the shock of seeing the object of the fantasy that had been playing behind her closed eyelids ,  clear on her face . H er hand stilled but didn't move from it's position.

" Beca , what are you doing here?" Chloe squeaked, trying and failing to force her voice into sounding normal. 

"I told you I'd skip out of work early if I could."  Beca  responded, her voice low and soft, a small smile tipping the corners of her mouth up. 

"Oh, right. I guess I was just expecting you to text if you were able to."

"I wanted to surprise you." 

"Well, mission accomplished."  Chloe said with a nervous laugh.

Beca  chuckled and looked at Chloe for a long moment before saying "Don't let me stop you." and motioned to Chloe's hand that was still out of sight under the sheet. 

Chloe's eyes widened " Beca ?" 

"Hmmm?" 

"You want me to..." Chloe trailed off.

Beca  walked slowly to the side of the bed and sat down. It wasn't often she was able to get the upper hand with Chloe ridiculously-confident Beale, and she planned on enjoying it while she could. She ran her fingers  lightly  from Chloe's, sheet covered, knee to her hip, making her shudder. 

"Why not?" 

Chloe stared at  Beca , equal parts of arousal and disbelief on her face. 

Beca  was waiting for a playful slap or a comment about being a  perv  and was totally shocked when Chloe's hand suddenly restarted it's movement and she threw her head back against the pillows.

" Beca " Chloe gasped softly, eyes open, staring straight at  Beca .  

Chloe's voice could do things to  Beca's  body, that other lovers she had had couldn't do at all, and she let out a soft gasp. 

Chloe smiled "Kiss me." 

Beca  was more than happy to oblige. She crashed her lips into Chloe's ,  quickly deepening the kiss as Chloe moaned into her mouth. 

"Mmmmm  Becs ." Chloe moaned as  Beca  broke the kiss to come up for air.  Beca  sat back slightly and took in the sight. Chloe's head thrown back, her cheeks flushed, her usually crystal blue eyes now dark  with desire, and it suddenly hit her, as  ridiculously  sexy as this scenario was and as much as she wanted to revisit it later, this was not how she wanted their first time together to be. 

Beca  slowly ran her fingers from Chloe's shoulder down her  arm. Chloe's eyes widened slightly when  Beca's  hand didn't stop at the sheet but continued its journey down until she was able to gently grip  her  wrist.  Beca  pulled Chloe's hand up and out from under the sheet pinning it above her head, earning a whine from the redhead.  Beca  chuckled as she grabbed Chloe's other hand and p inned it above her head as well , holding both o f Chloe’s wrists secure with one hand  using  her  other  hand  to softly run her fingers up and down Chloe's side.

" Beca  if I can't use my hands I can't..." 

Chloe stopped talking as  Beca  straddled her hips and leaned down pressing their bodies together. 

"I know... but I can."  Beca  said against Chloe's lips, before claiming them in a  short but  heated kiss. 

Chloe whined again when  Beca  broke the kiss, bu t  the  whine  quickly changed to a  moan  as  Beca’s  lips moved to her jaw line right un der her ear, Beca  pressed a feather light kiss  to Chloe’s flushed skin befo re leaning up slightly and whispering into her ear  " If  you want me to ."

Chloe nodded vigorously  as she moaned  again and  Beca  chuckled , the slight movement shaking both of their bodies. 

Beca  placed  open mouth kisses along Chloe’s jaw  line  slo wly making her way over to the redhe ad’s  other ear. With one last kiss ,  Beca  leaned up slightly again and whispered, her lips bushing Chloe's ear  as she spoke  "I 've always want ed  to know what you taste like." 

Chloe let out a deep guttural sound almost like a growl and bucked her hips up into  Beca .

" Chlo "  Beca  gasped at the feeling of their most intimate places coming into contact . E ven with layers of fabric between them, it was almost too much for her to take and she suddenly knew that thi s was not the time for teasing . T his  wa s the moment they had both been dreaming of for eight years . T his was the moment that would complete everything they had worked so hard to achieve, the moment when they truly gave the last bit of themselves to each other. 

Beca sat up, let go of Chloe's wrists  and looked down at her.  S he  pushed her fingers under the hem of Chloe's tank top feeling the muscles of her stomach contract under her touch.

"Beca... please... touch me." 

"Oh, don't worry love, I will." Beca said, as she pushed the thin tank top up and over Chloe's head, pulling it off when Chloe raised off the bed, slightly, to help. 

Beca brought her leg  over Chloe and scooted back a bit unti l she was kneeling on the bed next to her . She grabbed the top of the sheet and looked at Chloe for confirmation. Chloe nodded, bit ing  her bottom lip,  and Beca began to slowly pull the sheet  down, moving down the bed as she went.   As she pulled it over Chloe's feet ,  she scooted off the end of the bed and stood, looking down at Chloe. 

She had never seen Chloe look more beautiful than she did in that moment. She was stark naked, her red hair fanned out on the pillow around her head like a halo, rolling her hips in anticipation of the things Beca's eyes said were to come. 

Beca hummed in appreciation and slowly climbed back up on the bed straddling Chloe's legs,  leaving little wet kisses in her wake, marking her journey up Chloe's body.  At Chloe's chest, Beca stopped ,  nipping the skin between her breasts , gentl y ,  before moving over  and pulling  Chloe's  nipple into her mouth biting softly.

"God, Beca!" Chloe called  out, one hand  flying  up to brace against the headboard and the other tangling in Beca's hair.   Beca smiled against Chloe's skin and replaced her lips with her fingers ,  tweaking Chloe's hardened nipple ,  while making her way over to the other side to give it the same attention. 

"Yes, Beca please..." Chloe gasped, making Beca's whole body quiver with anticipation.

With the encouragement from Chloe, Beca started to make her way back down Chloe's body ,  trailing kisse s  down her tan stomach and raking her fingernails down the soft skin of the redhead's sides, causing her to arch her back ,  pressing her front harder against Beca's eager mouth. 

Finally at the end of her journey Beca sett led  down on to the bed  as Chloe spread her legs a little wider to accommodate Beca's shoulders.   Beca wrapped her arms around Chloe's thighs ,  pressed her hands into her hips and looked up  trying  to memorize every detail of what she was seeing .  Chloe looked  down her own body  and met Beca's eyes. 

"I love you  so much ."  Beca said, the look in her eyes making it clear that she meant so much more than any words could ever express. 

"I love you too." Chloe said back, the look in her crystal blue eyes  mirroring the look in Beca's steel blue ones .

Beca leaned forward and pressed her tongue into Chloe's already hyper sensitive flesh. 

Chloe threw her head back, arched her back and screamed "Yes, Beca. God, Please." 

Beca searched for a rhythm for a moment, quickly figuring out to time the strokes of her tongue with the movements of Chloe's hips against her. 

"God, yes, baby, please." Chloe called out, followed closely by "Becs, right there. Oh god, I'm so close." 

Beca upped her pace and pressure as Chloe got more vocal and her breathing started to get more erratic.

Chloe's cries quickly became less words and more sounds, as  Beca  pressed her fingertips down into her hips and leaned in a little closer, her whole world being taken over by the sight,  feel,  smell and taste of Chloe. 

"BECA!" Chloe screamed to the ceiling as she tangled her fingers into Beca's hair and  her body went rigid,  shaking  uncontrollably, almost taking Beca over the edge with her . Beca held tight to Chloe's thighs and continued her movements as Chloe rode out her orgasm. 

When  Chloe's body stopped shaking and  finally  started to relax Beca leaned back  peppering Chloe's  inner thighs with soft kisses, making her giggle. 

"Come up here ,  please." Chloe said smiling, her voice low and rough. 

Beca chuckled, placed one last kiss on Chloe's inner thigh and climbed back up her body, finally letting her full weight rest on top of the redhead once they were face to face. Chloe ran her fingers through Beca's hair and leaned up kissing her softly but deeply, letting her tongue run lazily over Beca's, tasting herself on the kiss . Chloe let her hands begin to wander and quickly broke the kiss. 

"Why are you still wearing so many clothes?" Chloe  asked Beca, who was  in the suit she had been wearing all day . 

"Well, when I came in and saw you like... that." Beca said with a wink, making Chloe blush "Getting myself naked wasn't very high up on my priority list."

Chloe rocked her hips enough to throw Beca off of her and onto the bed next to her, she rolled over settling her weight on top of  the smaller woman and kissing her smartly on the lips before rolling  off the side of the bed and standing up . She held her hand out to Beca, who sat up and took it, scooting off the bed to stand in front of Chloe. 

Chloe pulled Beca against her ,  by her hips ,  and whispered into her ear "Well ,  it's at the very top of my priority list." 

Beca's breath caught in her throat a nd  Chloe smiled . She  ran her hands from Beca's hips to her shoulders, brushing against the outer edges of  the smaller woman's  breasts as she did , earning a small gasp. She  slowly pushed the jacket Beca was wearing off and down her arms, throwing it across the room. 

Chloe brought her hands up and started to ,  slowly ,  unbutton Beca's shirt, while  placing gentle kisses down her neck unti l her lips were working just above her fingers. Every time Chloe would undo a button she would push the shirt open a bit more and leave a kiss against Beca's heated skin. When she got to the lower buttons she dropped to her knees and continued her work. 

Beca looked down at Chloe and couldn't help the  moan  that escaped her  at the sight of her redhead naked, on her knees, kissing her way down her stomach. 

Once the last button was undone Chloe pushed the shirt open ,  but le f t it hanging loosely from  Beca's  shoulders . She reached around cupping Beca's backside and pulling her in closer as she nipped gently at the tender skin just above the waist band  of her pants. 

" Chlo e ." Beca said softly as she ran her fingers through red hair,  and  felt Chloe smile against her ski n . 

Chloe undid the button on Beca's pants and unzipped them agonizingly slowly. She left little kisses trailing down Beca's thighs as she pushed the pants to the ground. 

Beca stepped out of the pants as Chloe stood up and moved to stand behind her.  Chloe gently laid her hands on  Beca's  sides and brought them around to her stomach pushing the tips of her fingers just underneath the waistband of  Beca's  underwear. 

"If I had known this was in the cards for today, I would have worn fancier underwear."  Beca  said,   her voice coming out breathy and strained. 

"Don't worry, you won't be wearing any  at all, much longer." Chloe said low and huskily against her ear, making Beca shiver.   Chloe brought her hands up Beca's stomach, ghosting over her breasts and pulled the shirt back and over her shoulders letting it fall to the floor on top of  Beca's  pants. 

"Chloe, please. I need to feel you." Beca half whined, half moaned. 

"You will my love." Chloe said softly as she placed a gentle kiss against the side of  Beca's  neck. 

Chloe reached down and made quick work of the hooks on Beca's bra, pulling it free and letting it fall to the floor  as well, as she brought her hands up to cup Beca's breasts, pulling Beca back  against her in the process. With Beca's back pressed flush against her front Chloe leaned down and kissed the place where Beca's neck met her shoulder. 

"God, Chloe." Beca cried at the feeling  of Chloe's soft hands and lips on her body.  

Chloe's hands were relentless in their attentions and Beca suddenly wasn't sure how much more she could take. She had never been this turned on in her life and she felt like she might explode at any second. 

"Please" Beca managed to whisper breathlessly as Chloe started nipping a line up her shoulder. 

Understanding Beca's tone perfectly  Chloe quickly stepped in  front of Beca and pushed her  down onto her back on the bed, pulling her underwear off her legs in one fluid motion. Chloe  climbed onto the bed and  straddled Beca's  thigh , letting her knee fall against Beca's center as she leaned up and kissed Beca deeply, letting her toungue explore Beca's mouth .

" Chlo !" Beca gasped, breaking the kiss,  as she  ground her hips down onto Chloe's knee trying to find the friction she so desperately needed .

Chloe pulled her knee back and leaned down to whisper in  Beca's  ear "Ah, ah, ah. We both discovered  what I taste like thanks to you,  now it's my turn to do some discovering." 

Beca  whimpered  but nodded. 

Chloe smiled as she pulled Beca's earlobe into her mouth and bit it gently, earning another moan from the small woman underneath her, and set about her journey downward. 

Chloe wanted to take her time,  kiss and explore every inch of  Beca's  skin, but she knew, with the way that  Beca  was whimpering and rolling her hips that she  was in no condition to wait that long. 

So Chloe, after a lingering kiss placed  on Beca's neck,   left a straight line of kisses down the pale skin of h er chest, stopping  only  to, quickly and firmly, tweak both of Beca's nipples with her fingers, causing Beca  to arch her back and scream out the most animalistic sound that Chloe had ever heard come out of another human being. The sound shot straight to Chloe's core, making her moan against the flat expanse of  Beca's  stomach. 

As Chloe finished her journey down Beca's body she scooted off the end of the bed,  grabbed  Beca by the hips, pulling her to the edge of the bed and dropped to her knees hooking both of Beca's legs over her shoulders, earning a very unbadass squeal of surprise from her DJ . 

Once Beca had adjusted to the abrupt c hange of position,  Chloe  brought her hand up and ran the pad of her thumb against Beca feeling the heat and wetness. 

"God, baby. You are so wet." 

Beca threw both arms over her head, fisting her hands into the comforter looking for anything to grip to help keep her grounded, and whispered again.  "Please." 

Chloe couldn't deny the pleading tone in Beca's voice any longer and leaned forward flicking her tongue  exactly where Beca  needed it  most. 

Beca arched her back so far up she was only being supported by her  head on the bed and the backs of her thighs on Chloe's shoulders. 

As Chloe found her rhythm, she listened to the sounds Beca was making, they were sexier than anything she could have ever imagined. From the simple breathless panting, to the whimpers, to the screams of pleasure that would echo off the walls of her bedroom, she knew then and there that this was a something she would never get used to, never not see the magic in, that she could reduce the badass Beca "DJ Blue" Mitchell to a quivering pile of  indiscernible sounds. 

As  Beca's  body started to tense Chloe sped up her strokes leaning in closer. 

"I'm so close Chloe. Please, please, please." Beca whispered, panting. 

Chloe quickly replaced her tongue with her fingers. 

"What do you need baby? Tell me what you need me to do." Chloe coaxed, hoping Beca would be able to hear her over her  whimpers . 

"Inside" Beca  whispered  on an exhaled breath, barely audible. 

The word sent  images of potential future encounters shooting through Chloe's head but she pushed them down for the moment and leaned back in to Beca putting her tongue back to work and pushing one finger gently into Beca.

Beca  bucked her hips and arched her back, crying  out "More!" 

Chloe moaned a gainst Beca, at the desperation in her voice and did as she was asked, adding another finger. 

Beca let out a sound that was part whimper, part moan as she started to roll her hips matching Chloe's movements. "So... Close... Chlo..." 

Chloe quickly upped her pace, driving her fingers deep into Beca and curling them as she would pull them out, it only took a few more strokes for  Beca's  body to tense and start to shake, almost vibrating as all her muscles seemed to contract at once. 

"Chloe! " Beca  cried out,  the name falling from  Beca's  lips sounding  simultaneously  like  a prayer and a curse . 

Chloe slowed and stopped as she felt Beca's body still and then go limp. She pulled out of Beca earning the ghost of a whimper and crawled back up on to the bed curling herself into Beca's side. 

Once Beca  was confident she could move again she  turned on her side and looked at Chloe, brushing the stray hairs that had fallen into her face back behind her ear. 

"How did I ever get so lucky?" Beca said softly, the gravity of the moment showing clearly on her face  and  in her steel blue eyes . 

"You didn't... I did." Chloe said hon estly  as she leaned forward and kissed Beca sweetly, trying to convey with the kiss just how lucky she was . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there ya have it, their first time *squeals in head a little bit* (and no, before anyone get's worried it was, in no way shape or form, a dream) ;) I hope it lived up to the hype and I did it justice! I have to admit though these scenes are still really hard for me to write (you guys can't imagine the shade of red I am right now) and I'm simultaneously ashamed and proud that I wrote over 4,000 words on just one *cough* encounter. :*) Hope you all enjoyed it! Let me know!
> 
> Side note: For anyone who may be interested, there is an amazing song called "Fire Escape" by Matthew Mayfield that you all should check out, it has absolutely nothing to do with this chapter (except for the fact that I've been listening to it on a loop for days while writing) but it is beyond words! The music video also features the lovely Ms. Snow which is always a plus. :) You can find it on youtube and beats/apple music (and probably spotify and itunes but I don't know those for sure). Plus listening to it now will probably give you a leg up on future chapters, as I'm sure I'll find a way to work it in to this story before I'm done. :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So first of all, I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update! Life has been insane lately and my muse decided to take some sick days, so there have been lots of nights sitting staring at a blank word doc. The sentence you'll see about Beca handing a plate to Chloe was the only product of six hours of work one night. So yeah writers block sucks and this chapter kicked my ass!   
> But enough bitching from me! :)   
> Ok so here we are, this is where we will see start to see "Operation Tit Punch" come into play. This chapter ended up getting split into two, for length sake so get ready for a slow angst build! 
> 
> Side note: Stay tuned for the ending author's notes, I have a questions for all of you lovelies. :)   
> Now, on with the show. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Still nope and nope on the song too.

Beca sat at her desk staring at her computer screen, trying unsuccessfully to focus on the email that she hadn't had time to reply to all week. Her schedule had gotten ridiculously busy over the last six months and she wasn't even really sure why, meeting after meeting, conference call after conference call and reams and reams of paperwork. 

Beca's head slipped off the hand that was propping it up and she woke up just in time to miss slamming her forehead into her desk. She decided it was time to call it a night. 

She was just getting her computer shut down and her paperwork filed when the door to her office flew open ,  slamming into the wall behind it. Beca jerked her head up just in time to see Chloe, dressed in a black evening gown, storm into her office ,  before turning around and slamming the door. 

"Beca!" Chloe yelled ,  obviously  angry .

"Um, hi  Chlo ." Beca said, confused. 

"Don't Chlo  me. Where the hell were you tonight?" 

"What?" 

"Where the hell were you tonight?" Chloe repeated.

"Uh, well, I've been here all night. Why?" 

"Seriously?" Chloe asked, getting angrier by the second. 

"Yeah, seriously. Chloe what's wrong?" 

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Chloe said ,  seeming to be stuck in an angry loop. 

"Chloe, please .  I'm exhausted and I have no idea why you're yelling at me. I've been here all night .  I had my last meeting half an hour ago and I've been sitting here in my office trying to catch up on some paperwork since then."

"Oh ,  and paperwork was more important than my fundraiser?" Chloe spat.

"Fundraiser?" Beca asked, having no idea what Chloe was talking about. 

"Yeah, the fundraiser for the save the music program that Musicality was putting on. The one that you were supposed to be my date to, not to mention speak at. I put it into your schedule myself Beca."

"Chloe, I've been looking at my schedule all day, there was nothing about a fundraiser there. Did you tell me about it?"

"No, because I  didn't find out until last minute and  I  haven't seen you in a week. That's why I put it in your schedule."

Beca rubbed her forehead ,  "Chlo, baby, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, Jen is usually the one to take care of my schedule .  I'll ask her  Monday if she knows what happened." 

" Jenifer . " Chloe almost growled, under her breath, her expression hardening into one of pure rage , that  even though Beca didn't see very often at all, never failed to terrify her.  

Chloe ,  seeing the scared look on Beca's face and now being one hundred percent sure of what had happened and that it really wasn't Beca's fault, softened her expression. 

" Its  fine  love ,  don't worry about it. It was probably just a computer glitch or something. You look exhausted . W hy don't you come home with me tonight and let me take care of you."

The sudden change in Chloe from angry goddess to caring girlfriend ,  made Beca's head hurt a little . S he couldn't deny how good the offer sounded, but she still wasn't  quite  sure it was safe. 

"Chlo, are you sure we're ok? I mean ,  you looked like you were ready to sacrifice me to  Cthulhu  or something ,  about five seconds ago." 

"Yeah  love we're fine, I'm sorry ,  I was just worried and upset when you didn't show up or call, but computers... What are you gonna do? Right?" Chloe said with a shrug and a small smile that didn't quite make it to her eyes. 

"Yeah I guess." Beca said not really buying the explanation ,  but being too tired to argue. "Ok, yeah, let's go home. I'm beat." 

* * *

Two hours later and Chloe was  lying  next to Beca and Zay, the little boy wrapped up tightly in Beca's arms, listening to them both snore softly. Chloe was staring at the ceiling. This whole situation with  Jenifer  was starting to get out of hand. 

Since their dinner, Chloe had done her absolute best to just stay away from  Beca's  assistant, hoping that the anger  Jenifer  had for her would work  it’s  way out of her system when she realized that there was no way  Chloe would ever hurt Beca again . F or a while it seemed to work. They stayed out of each other's way ,  unless it was absolutely necessary and everybody seemed con tent with the arrangement, but over the last six months  things had started to go downhill. 

At first it didn't seem like anything important, a message that Beca never returned and swore she never got . A n important meeting scheduled on date night .  Chloe looked at these things as minor annoyances, just  Jenifer  asserting the little bit of power she had, so she had never eve n  considered doing anything about it. 

Within the last few months, though, things had gotten a lot worse.   Jenifer  was making sure that  Beca  was booked solid from the time she walked into the office until the time she left, usually well after normal business hours . S ometimes even scheduling her for out of town meetings on the weekends. It was really getting ridiculous . N ot to mention starting to interfere with their lives. Chloe hadn't seen Beca in a solid week and this wasn't the first time it had happened. It had gotten so bad ,  that a few days before ,  Zay had come up to her saying, with a sad look on his face, "Mommy, where Bec?" 

Chloe had tried to explain to him that she was a very busy person and had been at work, but no matter how she tried, the sad look on his little face had stayed ,  as he climbed up into her lap, laid his head on her shoulder and said ,  "Bec come home."  

Chloe knew she had to do something, she just didn't have any clue what. She didn't really want to tell Beca that her assistant and best friend was actively trying to break them up, apparently by working her to death, but she wasn't sure that confronting Jen directly would actually do any good. She sighed  heavily, at least tomorrow was Saturday. That meant they had a few days together and Chloe had a few days to think about how to handle things before she had to make a decision. 

With that thought easing her mind ,  a little bit ,  she rolled over facing Beca and Zay, and draped her arm over  both of them ,  scooting in a little closer and f alling  into a restless sleep. 

* * *

Chloe woke up the next morning to a loud crashing sound in the house . I t took her a moment to shake off the haze of sleep enough to realize that neither Zay  n or Beca were in bed. Before she even realized what she was doing ,  she was on her feet ,  running  full tilt ,  in the direction of the noise. As she neared the archway of the kitchen she stopped in her tracks ,  when she heard giggling, and sighed in relief. 

It wasn't that she didn't trust Beca with Zay. In fact ,  Beca had excelled in the crash course of learning how to care for a child that she had pretty much been  forced  through . I t was just that  Beca  was still the most accident prone person Chloe knew ,  and that combined with the general state of being ,  of a  now three  year old ,  could quickly lead to disaster. 

Chloe tiptoed forward and stuck her head around the kitchen door to see what was going on. She couldn’t help but giggle quietly herself  at what she saw. Beca was kneeling down in front of  Zay ,  holding a bowl of what Chloe could only assume was pancake batter, letting the little boy vigorously stir it with a whisk ,  that was almost as big as he was. There were a few pans scattered on the floor and the entire kitchen, including Beca and Zay, seemed to be covered in flour. 

Zay laughed loudly as some of the  batter  he was stirring flew out of the bowl and landed on the floor. 

Beca laughed too ,  but quickly added "Shhhhh, we don't want to wake Mommy up. She's got to still be in bed if we're going to make her breakfast in bed." 

Zay nodded  conspiratorially  as he put a finger to his lips and whispered "Shhhhh, Bec." 

Beca  smiled  sweetly  and ruffled his hair. 

Chloe smiled at the scene and quickly tiptoed back to her bedroom. As she laid there pretending to be asleep ,  she got angry all over again . M oments like these were supposed to be happening all the time . B onding time with Zay and Beca . H ell ,  bonding time with her and Beca, but because of Jen's grudge they were missing so much. Chloe couldn't stand for it anymore . S he decided then and there that Monday morning she would talk to Jen ,  and if that didn't work she would take the whole issue to Beca and tell her everything. 

Chloe was brought out of her thought s  and her anger, mostly, when she heard the pounding of little feet coming down the hallway and Zay yelling "MOMMY!"  a s soon as he made it through the door of the bedroom. 

Chloe rolled over to face him doing her best to feign sleepiness and surprise as she heard Beca call from down the hall ,  "Little dude, you were supposed to wait until I got in there  to wake Mommy up." 

Zay, still standing in the doorway ,  smiled down the hall and shrugged before running over to the bed, climbing up onto it and jumping onto Chloe.

"Hi  Mommy." He said sweetly as he looked up at her, his chin resting on her chest. 

Chloe smiled  "Hi Buggy Bear."

"Morning love."  Beca  said as she came through the doorway ,  seeing that Chloe was already awake. 

"Morning baby. What's all this?" Chloe asked ,  motioning to the tray that  Beca  was carrying. 

"Well, little dude here woke me up a while ago because he was hungry and I thought it might be nice for us all to have breakfast in bed." 

"That sounds amazing ! " Chloe said ,  genuinely excited as she nudged Zay ,  so he would move to sit next to her and sat up herself ,  so Beca could lay the tray across her lap. After laying the tray down Beca climbed up on the bed and distributed all three plates ,  piled high with pancakes drenched in maple syrup. 

The y  all dug in ,  and to Chloe's surprise the pancakes were delicious.  Beca  and cooking had  had  a strenuous relationship at best. Chloe remembered the brief time  in college, when Beca had been addicted to the food  network. To this day there was no scarier sound to a Bella than  Beca saying 'Hey guys I'm glad you're home ,  I found a new recipe today.' Chloe smiled at the memory. 

"What?" Beca asked ,  around a mouthful of pancakes. 

"These pancakes are really good!" 

"That's what you were smiling about, with a far away look in your eye, just then?" Beca asked, not believing Chloe's explanation. 

Chloe laughed,  " Not really . I was just remembering the time in college you got addicted to the food network."

"Oh lord!" Beca said rolling her eyes and sounding exasperated, but still smiling. "That was only for a few weeks ,  and some of the dishes I made were actually quite good." 

Chloe laughed ,  "It was two months actually, and if by quite good you mean ,  didn't cause anybody to be hospitalized, then yeah ,  I guess you're right. There were a couple of those." 

Beca grasped at her chest in mock indignation, while saying in a haughty tone ,  "Well I never!" Before starting to laugh along with Chloe and quickly adding "Besides, there was only one time that ended in a hospital run, and to be fair the show I was watching didn't make it clear that you were supposed to cook the sausage BEFORE you added it." 

Chloe, Beca and  Zay , even though he didn't really have a grasp of what was going on, all fell into a fit of laughter .

Their moment was broken ,  all too soon ,  by the ringing of Beca’s phone .  Beca got up and walked around the bed while still wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes. She grabbed her phone off the charging pad and swiped the screen to answer. 

“Hell o?  Oh, hey Jen.” 

Chloe gritted her teeth when she heard the name, but quickly softened her expression when she saw Zay look at her with concern on his little face. 

“You’re kidding me?” 

Chloe heard Beca say ,  and she knew this didn’t bode well for the quiet weekend she had planned, but knowing her son was watching her intently, she forced herself to keep smiling while eating her pancakes.

“Today? Seriously?” Beca almost whined into the phone. 

Chloe took a deep breath. 

“ But  Jen…” 

‘That’s right, fight it.’ Chloe thought. 

“I know.” Beca sighed ,  “Yeah ok. I’ll see you in a bit.”  Beca  finally said before hitting the end button on her phone and looking down sadly. 

Chloe’s heart fell into the pit of her stomach, and she suddenly thought she might throw up the pancakes she had just eaten. 

Beca looked over at Chloe, and Chloe managed a weak smile before asking ,  “Everything ok?” 

Beca fell back on the bed and scrubbed her face with her hands. “No, not really. Apparently  there was some kind of error in the contract with one of our distributors and some of the CD’s and merch for Pink’s album release in three weeks  are sitting in some undisclosed warehouse somewhere and nobody knows where or how to get their hands on it. I have to go into the office and try to get everything straightened out.” 

“Oh.” Was all Chloe said, putting her plate aside and looking down at her lap. 

Beca crawled across the bed and laid down with her head in Chloe’s lap. “I’m sorry love, I know this isn’t the ideal weekend ,  but hopefully I’ll be able to get this fixed quickly and be back soon. Either way though I promise I’ll make it up to you.” 

Chloe gave a half hearted  smile, leaned down and placed a quick kiss on the end of Beca’s nose and said ,  “Go save your company from utter destruction.” 

Beca gave Chloe a sad smile  and ruffled Zay's hair , before getting up and walking to the closet to get dressed.

* * *

Three hour s later ,  Chloe was pacing her  living room, getting angrier with every second that  passed . She had called Gabe and asked him to come pick Zay up shortly after Beca had left. She didn’t want  her son  seeing her like this. 

Chloe was just about at her wits end.  She didn’t know how  Jenifer  had managed to cause the issue with the distributor and the contract ,  but she was sure that Beca’s assistant was the one behind it. She didn’t know how  Jenifer  was  justifying this . Trying to break her and Beca up was one thing . Chloe hated it ,  but in a way she almost understood . C onsidering t he massive protective streak she herself had for her small DJ ,  but now  Jenifer  was actually doing things to hurt Red Industries.  How could she possibly think that was in any way good for Beca?

The worst part for Chloe was that she didn’t really have anyone to talk about this whole situation with. She couldn’t go to Beca. She didn’t even want to think about how that conversation would play out .  ‘Hey Becs, do you have a second? Yeah ,  I think you’re assistant and best friend is trying to work you to death, sabotage your business and I know for a fact she’s actively trying to break us up.  So if you could make her stop, that’d be great. ’ It sounded paranoid even to Chloe, who knew it  w as the God’s honest truth. She had thought for a moment about calling Aubrey and unloading on her, but as much as she wanted to, she knew the only thing that would come of it would be Aubrey stomping into Beca’s office like a storm trooper and going medieval on  Jenifer , and in all honesty,  probably Beca too. That  would only make everything so  much worse , plus that’s not what Chloe wanted, this was her fight. 

She knew she could call any of the other Bella’s and talk to them about it, but it had been so long since she had reached out to any of them ,  it seemed wrong to call up out of the blue with a problem. 

Chloe was brought out of her thoughts by a knock on the door.  She stopped pacing and looked at the door oddly for a moment. She had no idea who could be on the other side .  Beca hadn’t felt the need to knock in months and other than a few ca su al  work friends, who wouldn’t just come to her house unannounced, Chloe really didn’t know anyone in LA.

Chloe crossed the living room and opened the door wide, her face breaking into her thousand  gigawatt  smile as she saw who was standing on the other side. 

"EMILY!" She almost yelled as she threw her arms around the tall girl and pulled her into a tight hug. 

Emily laughed and hugged Chloe back just as tightly. "Hey Chloe!"

"OMG, what are you doing here? How did you even know where I lived?" Chloe asked ,  excitedly while ushering Emily into her living room and shutting the door. 

"Beca gave me your address actually. A few months back I told her I was thinking about coming into town soon, but I didn't know exactly when,  and she told me that you guys were together . C ongratulations by the way, and that I'd probably find her here instead of at her place. She said she barely even spends anytime at her place anymore. " Emily finished with a bright smile  as both women sat down on the couch .

Chloe's face fell at Emily's last statement and she simply said ,  "Yeah." 

Emily looked at Chloe strangely and reached over ,  putting her hand comfortingly on the older woman's knee ,  "Chlo?" 

Chloe suddenly jumped up from the couch waving her arms wildly in the air as she said "I'm sorry Em, everything's just so fucked up right now." 

Emily, who had only spent a year as a Bella under the reign of Beca and Chloe, had seen Chloe upset before, seen her mad, usually at Beca, stressed over the worlds, even a little depressed when they thought the group would end up being disbanded, but this frantic, desperate sounding woman  standing in front of  her was something completely new and Emily honestly wasn't sure she was equipped to handle it. 

Emily spoke softly ,  hoping to not make the situation worse. "What's going on Chloe?" 

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath, composing herself. "Nothing, I'm sorry. You wanna go grab lunch or something?" 

Emily stood and crossed the short distance ,  stepping up in front of Chloe and grabbing both of her arms gently. 

"Chloe. Hey,  it's me. You can talk to me.  W e're sisters remember? I won't even tell Beca, if you don't want me to. " Emily finished with a small smile. 

Chloe weakly returned her smile. "I know  Em. I just... I don't even know where to begin." 

Emily gently guided Chloe back to the couch and sat down ,  getting comfy, sensing that this was going to be a long conversation. 

"Just start wherever and fill in the rest as you go." Emily said. 

"Beca's assistant and best friend is trying to work her to death, sab otage  her company and break us up. I t's really starting to screw with our lives and  Beca doesn't realize any of it." Chloe blurted out in one breath, holding the next one in anticipation of Emily's response . 

Emily's eyes went wide. "Oh, ok. Don't know what I expected ,  but it wasn't  that." 

Chloe let out the breath she was holding and said "Yeah." 

"So, do you know all of that for sure?" Emily said ,  not being  quite sure what to make of Chloe's revelation.

"Not all of it no, but I do know for a fact that she is actively trying to break us up." 

"How do you know?"

"She told me." 

"She told you?" 

"Yep." 

Emily rubbed the bridge of her nose. "How did that happen? I mean did she just come up to you and say 'I don't like you, I'm going to try and break you and Beca up'?"

"Not exactly." Chloe answered ,  and then asked hesitantly "Em, how much do you know about the last four years of Beca's life?" 

Emily looked a little confused at the question ,  but answered ,  "Not a whole lot really.  I know she opened her label after working as a producer ,  for a year or so, and she went through a weird depression for a while. She didn't tell me that, I just remember her being weird when we would talk and the couple  of  times I saw her." 

Chloe sighed ,  trying to decide how much to tell Emily. "Well the depression thing was mostly because of me. I basically cut her out of my life  for  some really stupid reasons ,  that I don't really want to get into right now."

Emily nodded in understanding and Chloe continued. 

"I didn't know she was in as bad of shape as she was, and her assistant  Jenifer  was the one who took care of her during that time. A little while after Beca and I started working together, Beca  got  really upset  and told  Jenifer  about everything that had happened between us , so of course she hates me. 

I didn't know any of this, other than the fact that Jenifer hated me . S o I asked her out to dinner ,  one evening ,  hoping we could get to know each other and maybe even become friends, because I knew her and Beca were close,  and that’s when she told me everything that had happened over the last three years and that she would do everything in her power to  make sure that I could never get close to Beca again." 

"Wow." Emily said, trying to process everything she had just been told. "So, did you tell Beca about this?"

Chloe sighed "I told her that  Jenifer  told me about her depression but that's it." 

"Don't you think you should have told her the rest? I mean I would think she would want to know ,  that someone is actively plotting against her relationship." 

Chloe rubbed her eyes and nodded. "I probably should have, but the thing is,  I didn't realize that  Beca  was still in love with me until Jenifer  told me everything , so she actually did me a big favor and I didn't want to get her in anymore trouble, with Beca, than I knew she'd already be in . I just hoped that once she saw how happy, I knew Beca  and I would be, that she' d  ease up." 

Emily laughed. 

"What?" Chloe asked  flatly,  not being sure if she should be offended by the  younger woman ' s laughter or not.

"It's just that all these years later, you're still the same old Chloe. Here this woman is trying to take away the woman you've loved for almost nine years now ,  and you're worried about getting her in trouble." 

Chloe chuckled  a n d shrugged .  There wasn't much she could say to that. 

"Ok so I get all that, but what about the working Beca to death and trying to sabotage the company thing?" 

Chloe went into the whole story about the hours Beca was working  and  the contract issue with the distributor ,  that had come up today .

" Holy hell ." Emily finally said , in shock,  when Chloe was done talking. 

Chloe leaned forward ,  dropped her head into her hands and said tiredly. "I know." 

"Chloe, I really think you need to tell Beca about this. I mean I can kind of understand you not telling her ,  when it was just about the two of you ,  but this has gone way beyond that. She's working an unhealthy amount and if  Jenifer  really is changing contracts, that could put everything Beca has worked so hard for in total jeopardy. She needs to know." Emily said ,  resolutely . H oping that some of what she was saying was making it through to Chloe. 

"I know." Chloe said again, her face still hidden in her hands. She looked back up at Emily and sighed."It's just..." 

"What is it ?" 

"I don't want Beca to think I'm just being paranoid or jealous or something. I mean you have to admit ,  the whole situation sounds kind of crazy. "

Emily took a few moments to think about what Chloe had said before finally responding. "Yeah I guess it does, but at the same time ,  Beca knows you Chlo. I really don't think ,  she would think ,  you were just being jealous. Not to mention, I know Beca  is oblivious to a lot of things, but if you were to lay it all out for her there's no way she wouldn't see it. Right?" 

"Maybe, I dunno." Chloe said, the uncertainty clear in her voice. 

"Chloe . " Emily said with conviction .  " Beca  loves you, she has for years. Even when both of you were too dumb to see how the other one felt. There is no way something like this is going to hurt your relationship. You two were meant to be." 

Chloe smiled at the surety of  Emil y's voice . She still wasn't sure what she was going to do about the whole situation, but the faith Emily seemed to have in her and  Beca  did make her feel a tiny bit better.

Chloe relaxed back into the couch ,  put her hand over on Emily's and gave a brief squeeze. "Thanks Em."

"No problem." Emily shot back ,  smiling. 

"So what are you doing here  in town ?" Chloe asked,  not really wanting to talk about her situation any more  and  realizing that she still didn't know. 

"Oh, a friend of mine from back home, recently started a new comic book that he's trying to drum up a readership for ,  and he's got a booth at comic con this weekend. He asked me to come man the booth with him."

"Oh how fun!" Chloe said ,  easily falling back to her old bubbly self in the comfortable company of her  old  friend. 

"I know ,  right ! " Emily said laughing. "I've never even been to a comic con, I'm super excited." 

"I went to one up in Chicago and it was a blast. The people watching there is EPIC!"

"I'm sure it is! I'm hoping to get my picture taken with Spiderman at least once. Oooo ,  maybe a storm trooper  too." Emily said almost bouncing with excitement. 

Chloe laughed ,  "You totally  have to send me copies of those pictures."

"Oh don't worry I will. Hey I was thinking, I'm busy all weekend but I don't leave until Tuesday ,  so do you think maybe you and me and  Beca  could all get together on Monday and hang out. You know ,  just take some time to catch up ?"

"Honestly  Em ,  I don't know, it'll all depend on if Atilla the assistant will let her out of her sight for that long." 

"Hmmm." Emily said, thinking .  "I know! H ow about you don't tell Beca  I was here and Monday I'll just show up at the office . Maybe the element of surprise will help." 

Chloe chuckled ,  "Hey, it's worth a try. I won't say a word." Chloe mimed zipping her lips and locking them. 

Emily laughed ,  "That sounds good." She looked at her watch briefly and added ,  "It's really been great to see you Chloe ,  but I have to run. I'm supposed to be at the booth by four and  traf f ic  in this city is freakin murder." 

Chloe laughed ,  "You got that right  sister." 

Both women got up and walked to the door. Emily pulled Chloe into a tight hug and then pulled back ,  still holding her friend by her arms . T he playful ness  of the previous conversation gone ,  replaced by serious concern . "Chloe, if you ever  need to talk to someone about anything . E ven if it's just to vent, I want you to call me . O k ? " 

Chloe smiled, she had only spent a year with Emily as a Bella ,  but she was still so proud of  the strong,  caring woman she had become. 

"I will  Em. Thank you and the same goes for you." 

Emily smiled and squeezed Chloe's arms before letting go and walking  out the door. She said with a small wave , "Will do. See you  Monday." 

Chloe waved back and closed the door as soon as she saw that Emily had gotten into her car. 

* * *

It was well after eleven when Beca, exhausted from the day, finally made it back to Chloe's. She opened the door as quietly as she could and walked in, kicking her shoes off. She expected Chloe to be in bed, asleep and didn't want to wake her as she walked across the hardwood floor. 

Beca took a moment, before heading back to the bedroom, to compose herself, this had been one of the most frust rating  days she had had in a long time . She sighed and leaned forward resting her forehead on the wall.

"Hard day?" 

Beca jumped and let out a surprised squeak. 

"Chloe! What the hell?" Beca asked, her heart still thundering in her chest from shock.  A s she took in her girlfriend's disheveled  appearance, she softened her voice and said  "Looks like I could ask you the same thing." 

Chloe was sitting on the couch, a movie, some rom-com she had made Beca suffer through during a Bella movie night , paused on the large TV screen.  H er bathrobe hanging open over her comfy pajamas, that consisted of one of Beca's old t-shirts and a pair of sleep shorts, her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, with random  empty  snack food containers littering the space around her. 

"Not really." Chloe lie d, she hoped, convincingly.  "I was just bored, and I missed you." 

Beca  smiled. "I missed you too. Is  Zay  in bed? " 

"No. I had G abe come pick him up earlier. I thought it would be nice to have some me time.  So did you save your company from utter  destruction?" Chloe asked, mostly succeeding in her efforts to keep the edge out of her voice. 

Beca chuckled "Yeah I did. It wasn't actually as bad as  Jenifer  made it sound.  T here wasn't an issue with the contract, it was just a shipping issue, that while it did take forever to deal with, wasn't really all that catastrophic." 

Chloe hummed a simple "Hmmm." i n response. As angry as she was, at  Jenifer  for taking Beca away from her for the day.  S he was glad that she had been wrong about her sabotaging the contract. As long as everything stayed on a personal level, it stayed her own fight, no need to involve anyone else, especially Beca.

Beca  walked across the living room,  moved the  empty ice cream carton from the couch to the coffee table and sat down  next to Chloe. 

"I'm honestly not even really sure why Jen couldn't have taken care of it herself, or at least let it wait until M onday." Beca said, running her hands through her hair. 

H earing Beca's comment, it suddenly clicked in Chloe's mind, where all of  Beca's extra work had been coming from  these past few months .  Chloe gritted her teeth so hard she was half afraid they would all shatter. Jenifer  had been putting her own work off on Beca. Chloe thought back to some of the things Beca mentioned having to do lately and  as she thought about them, every single one she could remember, was something that would be much more suited to an executive assistant than the owner of the company. It made sense. F or the last three years,  Jenifer  had essentially been running things.  T elling Beca where to be and what to do.  S o of course Beca wouldn't even question the fact that her work load  had grown so much. She would simply trust that  Jenifer  was taking care of things, just like she always had. 

"But  at least it's all taken care of now. " Beca said, with a sigh, pulling Chloe from her thoughts. 

Chloe  forced  what she hoped looked like a genuine smile.  "Mmmhmmm." She hummed in agreement not trusting her voice to not betray the anger currently floo ding her mind.

They were both silent for a moment, just sitting, looking at each other. 

"You're beautiful."  Beca  said, out of the blue, breaking the silence.

"What?" Chloe asked . Beca's statement easing her anger, for the time being . 

"I said you're beautiful. I don't tell you that enough and I thought you should know." Beca sai d, her voice soft and open.

Chloe looked at Beca in awe  for a moment. She didn't know how, but sometimes Beca just seemed to know the exact thing to say, to ease whatever  was troubling Chloe . Apparently even when Beca didn't even really know Chloe was troubled. 

"Thank you." Chloe finally said, her voice coming out barely above a whisper, but still laced with emotion . 

Beca smiled and stretched out her arm across the back of the couch, towards Chloe. "Come 'ere." 

Chloe felt her face break into a wide smile as she scooted the short distance over to Beca and curled herself into her side. 

Beca wrapped her arm tightly around Chloe's shoulders, pulling her in even closer,  and placed a gentle kiss against the top of her head. "So how about we finish this movie you were watching and then head for bed?" 

Chloe raised her head and looked into Beca's eyes. She knew Beca was exhausted from her long day,  and even though she had gotten used to them over the years, Beca was still not crazy about movies, but here she was, offering to finish the movie because somehow, once again, she knew it was what Chloe needed. 

"I love you." Chloe  said, softly  after a moment, before leaning up and pressing her lips gently to Beca's. 

Beca smiled into the kiss and  as Chloe pulled away,  whispered against the redhead's  lips "I love you too." 

* * *

"I  gotta move slowly." 

Chloe fe lt the softly sung words drift over the bare skin of her back, just before a gentle  kiss was placed on her shoulder. 

"Taking in your body like it's holy." 

Chloe felt her  face break  into a wide, sleepy grin, as another kiss was pressed farther up her shoulder.

"You've been waiting for me for the whole week."

Chloe shimmied back just slightly, to press further into the warmth at her back, as another gentle kiss was placed at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. 

"I've been praying for you ." 

Chloe shivered as a kiss was placed farther up her neck. 

"You're my Sunday candy." 

As Chloe felt an arm snake around her waist, she rolled over  in the light embrace and wrapped her own arms around Beca tightly, scooting in as close as she could. Chloe  loved this feeling almost more than anything else in the world.  B eing wrapped up tightly in Beca's arms, their bare skin pressed  together from ankles to shoulders.  J ust the two of them in their warm, safe little cocoon of blankets and each other. 

"Good morning  Beautiful."  Beca  said, softly against the top of Chloe's head. 

Chloe hummed contentedly against the smooth skin of Beca's chest before replying, her voice still rough and heavy with sleep. "G' mornin ." 

Beca chuckled low and soft, as she started massaging little circles into the muscles of Chloe's lower back. 

"Did you sleep well?" 

"Mmmhmmm." Chloe hummed against Beca's chest again, nodding slightly. 

"Good." Beca said  softly, and then quickly added "So, you know how I said  that I would make up for the fact that I had to go into the office yesterday?"

Chloe pulled back from the embrace slightly so she could look at Beca and said, uncertain , "Yeah." She wasn't sure if this was Beca's way of telling her that she had to go into the office again or not, and she wasn't prepared to let go of her  any time soon, if it was .

"Well, I thought I could do that now."  Beca  said with a smile as she closed the small distance between them and kissed Chloe deeply .

Chloe smiled against Beca's lips and thought briefly, before the power of coherent thought left her altogether , 'This is going to be a good day'.

* * *

Chloe and Beca had spent all day Sunday in bed, watching movies, eating takeout and just generally enjoying each others company, with out  any of the distractions of the outside world. They laughed, joked, told each other stories, sang  and made love. So w hen Chloe woke, Monday morning, wrapped tightly in Beca's arms.  H er head against Beca's chest with the steady sound of Beca's  heart beat and breathing resounding through her entire being, the last thing Chloe wanted was to get up and face the day. She snuggled in closer to Beca and started working on valid reasons why  they should just take the day off.  U ntil she remembered that Emily was supposed to make a surprise appearance at the office. 

"Shit." Chloe said, jumping slightly at the sound of her own voice, not having meant to say it out loud. 

"Huh?" Beca woke with a start, looking at Chloe,  a confused look on her sleepy face. 

"Sorry love, I was just thinking about work." 

"Why were you doing that?" Beca whined, pulling Chloe in a bit tighter to her side and closing her eyes again. 

Chloe Chuckled and snuggled back into Beca, they could afford a few more minutes of peace before they had to start the day. 

As Chloe laid there pressed into Beca's side, her mind started to wander. She wondered how Beca would react to Emily showing up unannounced at the office. Chloe knew that Beca would be glad to see the younger girl.  T hey had stayed pretty close over the years, and Chloe pictured the way Be ca would look up from whatever paperwork she was working on and smile brightly at the surprise. The thought made Chloe  smile but at the same time a little sad,  she knew they wouldn't be able to all spend the day together like Emily wanted. There was no doubt in her mind that Beca wouldn't tear herself away from the office for that long, but she hoped at least maybe she could get away for lunch. 

“GET YOUR ASS UP MITCHELL, YOU HAVE THINGS TO DO.”

"Dammit!" Chloe  yelled, as she jumped in surprise . That alarm never failed to scare the everloving hell  out of her. 

Beca  laughed. "You'd think you'd be used to that thing by now." 

"You'd think." Chloe said, somewhat grumpily. 

Beca leaned over and kissed Chloe sweetly. "Good morning." 

Chloe's smile returned quickly, as she pressed another quick peck of a kiss to Beca's lips and  said "Good morning." 

* * *

Two and a half  hours later and Chloe's day was in full swing. Her relaxing morning with Beca a distant memory.  She  had already sorted out two PR nightmares that had happened over the weekend.  O ne involving an artist, a bar, far too much liquor and an ex, and the other involving an arrest. 

Chloe had just gotten off the phone with the second artist's agent when, out of the corner of her eye,  she saw someone slip into her office and quietly close the door. 

"What the hell?" Chloe asked, jerking her head up in surprise .

"Hi." Emily responded, smiling sheepishly and quickly added, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." 

Chloe laughed, getting up from her desk to hug Emily, "No, it's fine Em. This morning has just been a nightmare."

As both women walked back to Chloe's desk to sit, Emily in front and Chloe behind, Emily's face fell. 

"Uh-oh. Atilla the assistant starting stuff again?" Emily asked, concerned. 

Chloe laughed, finding no end of amusement in the fact that Emily remembered her "term of endearment" for  Jenifer . "Actually no. Well, no more than usual." Chloe amended, and then went into the explanation of everything she had had to deal with earlier. 

When Chloe finished talking, Emily was sitting looking at her wide eyed. "Are people actually that stupid?" She asked, her voice flat. 

Chloe laughed.  "Apparently." 

Emily just shook her head. 

"Oh, going back to Atilla though, I did want to tell you.  I  found out that she didn't actually sabotage the contract. The contract was fine, it was just a shipping issue that she made sound a lot worse than it was, so she could get Beca away from me for the day." 

"Well that's good... I think." Emily said, not really being sure how good it actually was. 

"Yeah, it is good." Chloe responded surely "It brings the fight back down to a personal level.  A s long as it doesn't involve the company.  I don't real ly  need to involve Beca."

Emily looked at Chloe with a mixture of shock and confusion on her face. In so many ways , Chloe was still the loving, bubbly ginger that had led their acapella group to victory  against DSM at the World Acapella competition so many years ago, but she was also different sometimes. Emily couldn't quite put her finger on what it was exactly, but whatever it was, she knew she was seeing it right now. 

"Um... Chloe. I still think you should tell Beca. I mean, this is Beca's life she's messing with too.  Y ou know? If Beca can't trust someone, that she thinks she can, that seems like a problem she would want to be aware of. " 

Chloe waved Emily off. "No, really Em it's fine. I'll deal with it."

Emily sighed.  S he had a feeling, when everything came to a head, it would not be pleasant for anybody. 

Chloe looked at her watch, "So, Beca should be back from her nine thirty meeting by now.  W anna go say hi?" 

Emily smiled brightly, she had missed Beca. "Yep, let's go."

* * *

Chloe stuck her head around the door to  Beca's  office and knocked lightly on the door frame . "Excuse me,  Ms. Mitchell?" 

Beca looked up, confusion written plainly on her face at the strange words coming from the oh so familiar voice. 

"Ms. Beale?" Beca  asked, her tone cautious,  not being sure if Chloe was just being silly or if there was an actual  reason for her to be speaking so professionally. 

Chloe, catching the uncertain tone of Beca's voice, had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing and blowing the whole thing. 

"I found this tall drink of water, wandering around out here, and I was just wondering if she belonged to you." Chloe said pointing to where Emily was standing on the other side of the doorway,  out of  Beca's  view. 

"H uh?"  Beca  said, obviously getting more confused by the second. 

Chloe nodded at Emily, who was just barely keeping her giggle subdued, and the younger girl finally stepped into the doorway and into Beca's full view. 

"Em!" Beca almost squealed as she jumped up from her chair and ran around her desk to hug her friend. 

"Hi Becs." Emily said, walking into the office and opening her arms wide. 

Chloe walked in to  Beca's  office behind Emily and smiled as the two women hugged tightly. It wasn't often that Chloe got to see Beca with people she really enjoyed being around, other than herself, and she hadn't quite realized how much she missed it. 

"What are you doing here?" Beca asked Emily happily, as she pulled back from the hug .

"A friend of mine had a booth at Comic con this weekend and asked me to come man it with him."

"That sounds awesome! How was it?" Beca asked.

"I t was so much fun! I saw twelve  Spidermen  and got my picture with four of them. " Emily answered excitedly .

"Oh, you have got to send me those pictures."   Beca said laughing. 

" I totally will." Emily answered before quickly adding. "Hey I know it's way short notice but do you think you and Chloe could skip out on the rest of the day so we could all hang out and catch up?" 

"Uh..." Beca started to say  as  Jenifer  walked in, as if on cue, looking down at the  paperwork in her hands and stopping right next to Chloe, too intent on  what she was reading to realize who she was standing next to . 

"Hey Beca, there's an..." Jenifer stopped talking, as she looked up from her paperwork and realized that there were other people in the room. "Oh hey, looks like the party i s in here." 

Beca laughed, "Yep it is. Jen you remember Emily right? She was in the Bella's with me and  Chlo ."

Jenifer  took a few steps forward and stuck her hand out to shake Emily's "Yeah. O f course I remember. How are you Emily?" 

"I'm good thanks." Emily said shaking  Jenifer's  offered hand and trying not to look uncomfortable, talking to the woman who was trying to break her friends up. 

"Bales."  Jenifer  said as she took a step back from Emily and  turn ed  slightly to  acknowledged Chloe. 

"Frank." Chloe said, through gritted teeth, crossing her arms over her chest .  

"So... anyway..." Beca said, seeing the tension  between  Chloe and Jen,  but still not understanding what it was all about. "Jen I need you to cancel the rest of my day, I wanna take my girls here out on the town." Beca said smiling and pointing at Emily and Chloe. 

"Oh, no can do Beca. I'm  sorry but the rest of your day is booked solid and there's really no time in the near future to reschedule ."  Jenifer  shot back quickly. 

Chloe sighed quietly, she had known this was going to happen. 

" Jenifer ." Beca said sharply, "That wasn't a request, c ancel the rest of my day . Just make it work ." 

Jenifer  and Chloe's mouths both fell open in shock, as Beca laced her arm through Emily's and walked over to Chloe lacing her arm through hers as well. 

The three of them walked out of Beca's office leaving Jenifer standing gaping at them. 

Beca led Chloe and Emily towards the elevator that would take them to the parking garage.  Beca  and Emily made small talk, but  Chloe  stayed silent, too absorbed in her own thoughts to participate in the conversation. It was fantastic to see Beca stand up to  Jenifer  the way she did, but Chloe  wasn't honestly sure how to feel about it. On one hand Beca had  finally  stood up to  Jenifer , but on the other hand Chloe had just gone a week without seeing Beca, because her schedule was so crazy and at no point during that time had Beca thought to say 'No, Jen I can't work until  all hours of the night. I'd like to see my girlfriend at least once this week.'. 

Chloe heard Emily laugh at something Beca had said and  tuned  back into the conversation. As she saw Beca throw her head back and laugh as well, her dark eyes sparkling, Chloe  resolved to not let her own issues ruin their afternoon and squeezed Beca's arm, that was still laced through her own .

* * *

"Chlo, baby, what's wrong?" Beca asked as they were sitting on the couch in front of the TV  later that night .  Emily  back  at her hotel,  Zay tucked snuggly into bed and long since asleep.

Chloe tried to school her face into her best unknowing expression ,  before looking at Beca. "What do you mean ,  Becs? I'm fine." 

"Huh-uh." Beca said as she gently slid the remote out of Chloe's hand and clicked the TV off. "Nope, not gonna work Beale. You've been weird all day, not to mention, I know that face. That's your something is bothering me ,  but I'm trying to pretend it's not ,  face." 

Chloe rolled her eyes. Beca knew her . S he knew her really well ,  and most of the time Chloe loved that fact ,  but there were isolated times, like this one, where  it annoyed the  living  hell out of her. 

Chloe sighed at the heavy gaze Beca was still casting  her  way  and gave in. "I'm just a little peeved about today is all. No biggie." 

Beca scrunched her face into a confused expression. "Today? I thought we had a nice day today?" 

"We did." Chloe said . T he explanation she knew she  was  about to have to give ,  was exactly why she hadn't wanted to get into this conversation in the first place. "It's just... you took the day off." 

"Well, yeah. Em was here and I thought it would be fun for  us all to hang out . We couldn't have done that ,  if I hadn't taken the day off." Beca said ,  still obviously confused. 

Chloe sighed again, for being so intelligent ,  Beca could be denser than a black hole . 

"You're right ,  and it was nice hanging out with Em ,  but this isn't about Em, Becs. It's about the fact that I can go a whole week without seeing you at all, not even once, not for  dinner or lunch, or even just you popping your head into my office  to say hi, yet Emily comes into town and suddenly you actually stand up  to  your assistant , and  take the day off." Chloe finally finished ,  hating how petulant she sounded, she wasn't mad at Emily ,  or jealous even, she just wished Beca would open her eyes  and see what was going on . 

Beca sat thinking for a moment, before she finally responded ,  her voice soft ,  " Chlo , I know I've been crazy busy lately, and I'm sorry I haven't been around as much as I should, but it's just Em  was  only here for  today . You know?"  Beca  saw the anger flare to life in Chloe's eyes and knew she had just said the worst possible thing , even though she wasn't entirely sure why . 

Chloe stood up and glared down at Beca .  "And no need to make time for m e ,  because I'm always here . R ight? Nothing special about me." 

Chloe's voice was low and  angry  and Beca couldn't help feeling like she had painted herself into a corner . T here was really no way she could answer that ,  without putting herself in a worse situation than she was already in. So she didn't. She sat and stared at Chloe . H oping to convey with her eyes that that’s not what she had meant. 

Beca quickly found out  her message had not been received ,  when Chloe walked away with an angry huff. 

Beca dropped her head into her hands . H er life seemed to  be  spinning out of control lately and she honestly didn't even know why . H er workload had quadrupled, even though they weren't really doing any more business than usual . T ensions were  running incredibly  high at the office , even though it was the same old crew,  and now her and Chloe were fighting , even though all that had happened was that Beca had taken a day off ,  trying to be nice . It didn't make any sense to her at all, but she knew even if there wasn't much she  could do  about most of  it ,  there was something she could do about this. 

Beca  got up and made her way into the kitchen, where she heard Chloe banging things around , angrily,  while doing dishes.  Beca  walked up behind her and slid her arms around Chloe's waist ,  pulling her back and  into her chest. Chloe didn't pull away ,  but she also didn't wrap her arms around Beca's ,  like she usually did. 

"Hey."  Beca  said  softly.

When Chloe didn't respond ,  Beca wrapped her arms a bit tighter around her waist and said again ,  even softer this time. "Hey." 

"What?" Chloe finally responded, sounding tired, and like she had the weight of the world resting on her broad shoulders. 

Beca didn't really know what to say ,  so she decided to do what she did best and just started talking. 

“You ARE special.” Beca started. 

 “What?”  Chloe  said ,  not understanding.

“A minute ago, you said ‘nothing special about me’ ,  but you are special Chlo. You are the most special thing in my world. Hell ,  you are my world.  I love you, m ore than anything . M ore than you could ever even know, and I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much as I should. Work has been insane and I don’t even know why, not that that’s an excuse but…”

Chloe spun around in Beca’s arms and cut her rambling off with a soft kiss. Beca hummed contentedly into the kiss and Chloe smiled  against Beca’s lips . 

Chloe pulled back and looked into Beca’s  steel  blue eyes for just a moment ,  before pulling the smaller woman tight against her chest again  and speaking very softly ,  right next to her ear. 

“I don’t want to fight with you  Becs . I just miss you so much when you’r e not here and sometimes I  feel like everybody is trying to take you away from me.”  Chloe 's  voice broke on the last few words ,  as she started to softly cry. 

“Hey now.” Beca said reaching up with one hand and running her fingers through Chloe’s hair soothingly, while rubbing circles into the small of her back with the other hand. “No one is trying to take me away from you, and even if someone was ,  it wouldn’t matter. I’ m yours, r emember?  Completely.  You are my forever, Chlo. You always have been.” 

Chloe nodded against Beca’s shoulder before  saying  softly “And you’re mine.” 

They stood there for a few more moments  just holding each other before Beca broke the silence.

“Hey ,  it’s been a long day. Why don’t we head for bed?” 

Chloe nodded against Beca’s shoulder again and then pulled back. 

“Yeah ,  that sounds good.” Chloe said ,  as she allowed Beca to take her hand and lead her to the bedroom. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Whew! So everyone still with me? I know that was a looooong one. Like I said earlier this is only part one of Operation Tit Punch. There will be much more actual interaction with Jen in the next chapter. With this one I was really trying to show the juxtaposition of the happiness that is Bechloe and the drama that Jen is causing in their relationship. So how do you all think I did? :)   
> The song Beca sings to Chloe is "Sunday Candy" by Chance the Rapper, but that scene was really inspired by the video of Anna Kendrick singing it acapella in some interview she did. If you haven't seen it... youtube it... go... go now. I'll wait. :)   
> OK so now the question I wanted to ask you all. We only have a handful of chapters left to go before our journey concludes, so I've been doing a lot of thinking about the end of the story and I came up with two ideas. I did finally pick the one I'm going to go with but I have the other idea mostly written as well (yes I do sometimes write my chapters out of order. It's a problem.) So... after all is said and done, do you guys want me to post the alternate ending?   
> So there ya have it that's the question. If you all want to see it I will post it after the final chapter. (I was trying to make that sound like if you build it they will come, but I think I failed.) :/   
> Anyway thank you all for hanging in there with me, and I'll try my damndest to get the next chapter out sooner than I got this one out.   
> Side note: *rings shameless plug bell* I wrote a little, terribly depressing, one shot called Fire Escape. I know some of you have already read it (thank you, by the way) :) but if you haven't and you don't mind killer feels I'd love it if you'd check it out and drop me a line to let me know what you think. Loves to you all!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So first off I want to say I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get this out to all of you. I had an inner ear virus that had me hospitalized for a week and it's been a long recovery. :/ But I am (for the most part at least) back up and running.   
> This is what was meant to be just the beginning of this chapter but I wanted to go ahead and get something out for you guys and I don't think it will mess up the flow of things to split it up. So here you go this is a bit of a look into everybody's heads as the storm of Operation Tit Punch builds.   
>  I have to say that I found the responses to my question at the end of the last chapter hilarious!! :) So many of you are convinced that I'm going to throw something horrific at our girls. (I'm not saying I will or I won't, no spoilers here;)) but it cracks me up that that's the first place so many of you went. :)   
> So anyway... having said that, pretty much everyone said they want to see it, so as far as things are planned right now, we've got five chapters left (of course things might get away from me again and we might end up with six or seven. Why knows really?) but after the last chapter, I'll get the alt ending up so everyone will get a little peek into my twisted little brain. :)   
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Pitch Perfect 1 or 2, any of the characters therein, or the Kansas City Royals. (Shout out to my boys in blue though. We took the crown!)

As Chloe sat at her desk Tuesday morning, she was filled with a new hope. Beca standing up to Jen, the day before, had given her faith that things would be starting to change soon, and waking up this morning, once again cradled in her lover's arms, pulled tight and warm against her chest, her steady heartbeat thumping rhythmically under her ear, was only encouraging the feeling. 

Chloe had floated through her morning on the feeling, and the promise of a lunch date with Beca. It didn't even annoy her, too badly, when Jenifer made a surprise stop in her office to drop off some paperwork. Greeting her with the usual, curt, "Bales."  

To which Chloe responded, her tone as sweet as pure cane sugar. "Good morning Jenifer. How are you this beautiful day?"  

Jenifer responded by simply looking at Chloe like instead of 'good morning' she had said, 'I like to eat cat litter sometimes' and walked out of Chloe’s office, confused, without another word.  

Jen’s reaction combined with Chloe's already good mood, had Chloe grinning from ear to ear.  

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours later, Chloe was still smiling and was now lightly humming to herself as she typed up a press release. Her lunch date with Beca was set for twelve thirty and was only thirty minutes away. Spending time with Beca, even after all this time, never failed to excite her, but add to that, the fact that they hadn't had time to go out, just the two of them, in quite a while, and Chloe was practically vibrating with excitement.  

Chloe's desk phone rang and when she saw Beca's name flash across the screen, she grabbed the receiver and started talking before it was fully against her ear.  

"Hey love, so I was thinking, for lunch, we should try that little greek place over on..." 

"Chlo." Beca said abruptly, cutting Chloe off.  

"Yeah?" Chloe asked hesitantly, the tone of Beca's voice making her uneasy.  

"Baby, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to make our lunch today. I had a pencil in meeting this morning and it's thrown my whole day behind. I'm going to have to work through my lunch." 

"Oh." Chloe said, not trusting her voice to say much more without betraying her current state of mind.  

"I'm so sorry Chloe, and I promise I'll make it up to you soon. OK?" 

Chloe took a deep breath and tried to sound as normal as she could. "It's fine Becs, just do what you need to do. I'll see you tonight, right?"  

"Yep. I'll be home as soon as I possibly can. I gotta run. I love you."  

"I love you too." Chloe said into the phone just before it clicked and the line went dead.  

Chloe softly placed the phone back into it's cradle and sat staring at it blankly for a moment, before quickly standing up to pace the length of her office. She wanted to pick the phone up and throw it through the window. She wanted to punch the wall until her knuckles bled. She wanted to scream until her throat was raw and her voice gave out. Anything that would help to relieve some of the anger that was growing stronger by the second.  

The logical side of her brain knew that none of those things would actually help. So instead, she crossed her office to stand in front of the window that looked out over the sky line of Los Angeles. She leaned her forehead against the cool glass and took a deep breath, and then another, and then another. She kept taking deep breaths until she felt her anger recede, just slightly, and she could think a bit clearer.  

Chloe thought, for a brief second, about going and confronting Jen right then, but she knew that in her current state, that was a horrible idea. As much as Chloe didn’t mind the idea of the assault charge that would inevitably come from it, she knew that she needed to be clear headed when she faced the woman she had started to think of as her arch nemesis.  

Jen was a lot of things, a raging bitch being the first to spring into Chloe’s mind, but the one thing Chloe knew Jen wasn’t, was stupid. One tiny misstep and Jen could turn everything right back around, take the whole thing to Beca and make it look like Chloe was just overreacting or being jealous. That was the last thing Chloe needed. So with a final deep breath, Chloe turned around and went back to her desk, resolved to stay calm and figure out a plan.  

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was after eleven when Beca finally got to Chloe’s. She walked in and kicked her shoes off, leaving them by the front door. Her day had been horrible and exhausting, everything that possibly could go wrong had, and the crowning glory was that even though she hadn’t said anything, Beca knew that Chloe was mad at her for canceling their lunch date. Beca couldn’t even really blame her, she knew she hadn’t been the best girlfriend lately. She had hardly been around at all, and when she was around they spent most of the time sleeping, before Beca had to turn around and head right back into the office. It was no way to maintain a relationship, Beca knew, but she couldn’t see any way around it for the time being. She had to maintain her business.  

Beca sighed and started to tiptoe down the hall back towards the bedroom. She figured Chloe would be asleep and didn’t want to wake her. She was halfway down the hall when she heard Chloe yell “Oh come on!”  

Beca broke into a sprint, suddenly worried that something terrible was happening. She ran through the door to the bedroom, primed and ready to fight whatever it was that Chloe was yelling at.  

“Beca! What the hell?” Chloe screeched in her surprise at seeing her small girlfriend burst into her bedroom unannounced, looking like she was ready to punch something.  

Beca scanned the room quickly and seeing that nothing was amiss, took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves before she asked, “Chloe, what were you yelling at? You scared the hell out of me!” 

Chloe pointed at the baseball game playing on the TV on the other side of the room and gave Beca a look that clearly said ‘Duh’. 

“Oh.” Beca said, looking down sheepishly.  

Chloe rolled her eyes, in place of a response and turned back to face the TV. 

Beca sighed heavily, she knew Chloe was mad at her but she didn’t think she was THIS mad. Chloe’s lack of giggle at Beca bursting into the room ready to fight the TV, said all Beca needed to know about the redhead’s current state of mind.  

Beca was mostly well versed in how to deal with Chloe’s moods. She knew when Chloe was sad, usually cuddles, a well-timed quip and chocolate, if the situation was dire, was all that was needed to bring her smile back.  When Chloe was scared, Beca knew she needed to feel protected and most often, holding her close and telling her that everything would be ok, did the trick nicely. Beca had a knack for calming and reassuring Chloe. She always had, but the one exception to Beca’s ability was angry Chloe, especially when Beca was the cause of the anger.  

Beca was not afraid to admit, to herself at least, that angry Chloe was unpredictable and scary and Beca had, truly, no idea what to do when faced with this particular incarnation of her usually bubbly, loving girlfriend. 

Beca jumped, startled out of her thoughts, when Chloe yelled, “What the fuck? Are you blind? That was clearly a strike.”    

Beca sighed softly and sat down on the bed next to Chloe, being careful to keep a bit of distance between the two of them.  

“Who’s playing?” Beca asked softly, hoping to find a way to open a conversation.  

“The Dodgers and the Royals.” Chloe answered with a neutral tone, not taking her eyes off the TV.  

“Where are the Royals from?” Beca asked.  

“Kansas City.” Chloe answered simply, her tone staying even and unreadable.  

“Ah.” Beca said before quickly adding “Isn’t it a little late in the year for baseball?”  

“It’s the World Series.”  

“Oh, ok. Who’s winning?” Beca asked even though she could clearly see the score. She figured the best way to get this whole thing resolved was to get Chloe talking, which with the short answers she had been getting so far was appearing to be harder than she originally thought.  

“The Royals thankfully.” Chloe said offhandedly before covering her eyes, pointing angrily at the TV and yelling again “But not for long if they don’t pull their heads out of their asses. Come on Hosmer!”  

“What? You’re rooting for the away team?” Beca said with a smile, hoping that teasing Chloe would get some kind of a response.  

Chloe shot Beca a glare that Beca was sure should have at least put her in the hospital. ‘Ok, teasing is not the way out of this one.’ She thought.  

Beca decided to change tactics “Baby, if you’re mad at me we should talk about it.”  

“I’m not mad at you.” Chloe responded immediately, her tone flat.   

“Then what’s wrong? You haven’t said more than four consecutive words to me since I got home.”  

“Nothing is wrong. I’m just trying to watch the game.”  

“Honey…” Beca started, but stopped when Chloe clicked the TV off and stood up to walk to the bathroom without a word.  

Beca fell back on the bed, with a sigh, stretching out. This was going to be harder than she thought.  

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe walked to the bathroom and as soon as the door was shut she put her back against it and slid down to the floor pulling her knees into her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She wanted nothing more than to go back into the bedroom, cuddle up next to Beca, and fall asleep listening to the sound of her heartbeat, but there was so much keeping her from doing that.  

She wasn’t really mad at Beca. She was mad at Jen, at the situation, at herself even, but not really at Beca. Even though a small part of her really wanted to be. The truth was Chloe was just plain angry, she finally had pretty much everything she had ever wanted. A great job, a beautiful son, the woman she had been in love with for years, everything was perfect. At least it should have been, but despite the apparent perfection, Chloe was well aware of the downward spiral that her life had fallen into. Things were spinning out of control faster than she could even count them and the worst part was that Beca, the only person who could effectively put a stop to it, was totally oblivious to the fact that anything was even wrong.  

Chloe knew that Beca’s oblivion was partly her own fault. She should have told Beca that Jen was trying to keep them apart in the beginning, or at least when it became clear that it wasn’t an idle threat, but Chloe hadn’t wanted to get Jen in trouble and even more than that, if she was really being honest with herself, she didn’t want to rock the boat.  

She had just gotten Beca back in her life. They were finally together after so many years of longing and false starts and Chloe was scared that if she had told Beca everything it would have done more harm than good. That Beca would have looked at her like she was crazy and finally decided that the nutty redhead, that had caused her three years of hell, wasn’t worth the effort. Chloe sighed heavily at the thought. In a way she wouldn’t even have blamed Beca if she had thought that, wouldn’t even blame her if she thought it now. Chloe couldn’t help but feel that way about herself sometimes, she had wasted so much time and energy on that stupid women in business group. She had lost touch of so many things and people she loved. She had lost so much of herself.  

Chloe pushed the thought away and tried to focus on the situation at hand, she had a brief thought of walking back into the bedroom and telling Beca everything, just opening up and spilling her guts, telling her every little thought that had run through her head in the last four years. Telling Beca that even though she loved her more than anyone or anything in the world, except Zay, that she didn’t feel that she deserved to be with her. That she wasn’t worthy of the love that Beca had been waiting so long to give.  

She thought about telling Beca everything that had happened with Jen and how much it was hurting her, but the second the thought entered her head she pushed it away. She had let this go on for far too long, to tell Beca now. Beca would be upset that Chloe hadn’t told her before this, that she had let things escalate to the point it was hurting them both. No, Chloe had to deal with this on her own, she didn’t know how, but she knew she would figure it out and then she and Beca could finally get on with living the life they had both wanted for so long. The one Beca deserved.  

With that thought and a new resolve firmly in place Chloe pushed herself up from the floor and stood facing the mirror over the sink. She had just intended to wash her face and brush her teeth, so she could get to bed, but something stopped her and she stood looking intently at her reflection. She ran her fingers through her hair. Even though she was only thirty-one, there were a few streaks of silver already standing starkly against the vibrant red, it wasn’t unattractive, just strange, she thought absentmindedly.  

Her eyes roamed over her own face, she took in all the changes she was beginning to be able to see, the slight crease in her brow that was visible just under the scar on her forehead. The way her skin was ever so slightly not as firm as it had been when she was younger. The little crinkles that were starting to form at the corners of her eyes and mouth, laugh lines they were called. She touched them gently as her mind wandered back to the woman in her bed, no one had ever made her laugh like Beca. She decided that of all the changes she could see in her face these were the ones she liked the most. These were the ones that were tied in with Beca.  

Chloe’s eyes kept wandering over her face until she met the eyes of her reflection. Chloe was very familiar with her eyes. She had been told since she was small that they were her best feature and she knew that they conveyed her emotions on a level that was near ridiculous. If eyes were windows to the soul, then Chloe’s eyes were a sixty foot by sixty foot, crystal clear, picture window. That let every little emotion, every little thought that flew through her head, shine through, in painfully exquisite detail, but in this moment the eyes that Chloe saw looking back at her were not windows but closed doors, with caution signs taped to them. The concept jolted her out of her reverie. The look was uncomfortable in its familiarity and it took her a moment to figure out why. When it finally dawned on her, she let out a sound that was similar to a laugh, but held no amusement at all. The look was pure Beca. Not the open, loving woman who was currently laying in her bed, but the small guarded, awkward girl that Chloe had met nine years ago at the activities fair. The one who had called acapella lame and had all but laughed in her and Aubrey’s faces when they asked her to join their group.  

Chloe looked away from her own eyes, there were so many things wrong with that look being on her face, but she couldn’t think about that right now. She was on a mission. She’d sort everything else out later.  

Chloe washed her face and brushed her teeth without another glance at her eyes. Once she was done she opened the door and walked back into the bedroom. She saw Beca laying curled up on her side facing away from her. Chloe climbed into bed and pulled the covers up under her chin, being careful not to move around too much in case Beca was asleep. Chloe’s hands wanted to touch Beca, to reach out and close the distance between them, wrap themselves around the smaller woman, but she couldn’t. There was still too much anger roiling just under the surface, so Chloe gripped the edges of her pillow forcing her hands to stay put, and quietly whispered into the dark room.  

“I love you.”  

Chloe heard a soft sigh and then an equally quiet, “I love you too.” From the other side of the bed.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there we go, a bit more of Operation Tit Punch as well as some insight into Chloe's current state of mind. The next chapter (or really the continuation of this one) will see the conclusion of Operation Tit Punch. So what do you guys think so far? I know we haven't really gotten into the meat of the drama but don't worry it's a'comin. :)   
> Thank you all for sticking with me even though the updates have been taking a while!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hi all. :) I hope this update finds you all well and that you all had a beautiful holiday season!
> 
> So one thing I am finding as I write this story is that these aca-nerds are turning me into a dirty, dirty liar (at least as far as this story is concerned). :) This chapter is not in fact the conclusion to operation tit punch as I had originally said it would be, Jen is causing way more trouble than planned and it’s taking a while to get it all out there.
> 
> So that being said I’m going to stop saying what the next chapter will contain. I swear sometimes is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you guys. :)
> 
> Any way…
> 
> Submitted for your approval… ;)
> 
> Disclaimer: Ya’ll know the drill. :)

Chloe woke to cold sheets and her arms wrapped tightly around a pillow, that smelled very much like Beca. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know that she was alone in her bed. The way she had acted the night before was inexcusable and she couldn’t blame Beca for leaving before she woke up. In fact, she had expected it.

Chloe sighed deeply, sat up in bed, scrubbed her face with her hands and threw her legs over the edge of the bed. With her eyes now open, she looked out her bedroom window and was greeted with the greyest, rainy day she thought she had ever seen. ‘Perfect.’ She thought. As much as she didn’t like it, it seemed right that the weather should match her mood.

“You’re up earlier than usual. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

Chloe spun around so quickly, to face the voice coming from the doorway of her bedroom, that she wasn’t even totally sure how she came to be kneeling in the middle of her bed.

“Beca?” Chloe squeaked in surprise.

Beca, who was leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest, raised one eyebrow in mock confusion and said, with the ghost of a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth, “Were you expecting someone else?”

Chloe, despite her foul mood, chuckled quietly and sat back on her heels. “No, of course not. I just thought…” She stopped, looked down and began to play with the silver thumb ring she always wore.

“You thought what?” Beca asked, hesitantly, the almost happy expression she had been wearing a moment earlier, sliding into one that was serious and slightly worried.

Chloe sighed and dropped her hands to her sides, before looking up and meeting Beca’s eyes. “I thought you left.”

At Chloe’s statement Beca’s expression fell even further, into one that looked like a mix of sadness and pain, as she slowly made her way over to sit on the edge of the bed.

“I wouldn’t just leave like that.” Beca said carefully. She still wasn’t totally sure what had caused Chloe’s rage the night before and she definitely didn’t want to say something that could cause an encore performance.

Chloe pulled her legs out from underneath her and sat cross legged in the middle of her bed, facing Beca. She dropped her hands to her lap and began to play with her ring again. “After the way I treated you last night, I just…”

“Chlo,” Beca interrupted, “I’m still not entirely sure what was going on last night, but whatever it was, it’s ok. Everybody has bad days. It happens. I wouldn’t just up and leave without saying goodbye, just because we had a rough night.”

Chloe sat staring at Beca, speechless, once again wondering, how exactly, she ever got so lucky. Even though there was still the nagging voice, in the back of her head, telling her she didn’t deserve it.

A soft hand cradling the side of her face, brought Chloe out of her thoughts, and she nuzzled into the warmth.

“Chloe, baby, are you ok? You know if there’s something bothering you, even if it’s something I’m doing, that you can talk to me about it. Right?”

Chloe sighed heavily, if only Beca knew how true those words weren’t.

“Yeah I know love, but I’m fine. Really. I was just having a bad night, and I’m sorry I took it out on you.” Chloe finally said, giving Beca a small smile.

The look in Beca’s steel blue eyes said that she didn’t buy the explanation for a hot second, but to Chloe’s immense relief, she didn’t press the issue. She simply returned Chloe’s smile and said. “No worries my love.”

Both women sat for a moment staring at each other, neither really knowing what to say, but also not wanting the moment to end so soon. Chloe was the one to finally break the silence.

“Aren’t you going to be late for work?” She didn’t really want Beca to leave, but she needed a few minutes alone with her own thoughts before she got her day started.

Beca sighed. “Yeah I probably should get going. I have a ton of meetings this morning, but hey, why don’t we have dinner tonight? Just you and me?”

“Sure, that sounds nice.” Chloe said, noncommittally. She knew not to get her hopes up. Beca always had the best of intentions, but Jenifer was doing her very best to keep them apart and Chloe wasn’t entirely sure she could take the disappointment of another ‘I’m sorry baby, but I have to cancel our plans because of work’ phone call.

Beca gave Chloe a subtle sideways look, but didn’t comment on her lack of enthusiasm. Instead opting for the safer option of leaving while everybody was still in a relatively decent mood.

“OK, I really do have to leave now.” Beca said with a smile, and after a quick peck of a kiss, she walked out the bedroom door, made her way out of the house and to her car.

* * *

 

Finally at the office, after a long hot shower, two very large cups of coffee, and a bagel from her favorite café, Chloe felt almost human. She had a stack of paperwork on her desk almost as tall as Zay, but all she seemed to be able to do was stare at the picture of her and Beca that sat on her desk.

The picture was taken Beca’s sophomore year just after they had bagged their second ICCA win. They were both dressed in tailored black tuxes. Someone, Amy probably, had snapped the picture right as Chloe had pulled Beca in for a hug. Chloe had one arm wrapped tightly around Beca’s waist and the other hand on the back of Beca’s head, which was tucked under Chloe’s chin. Beca’s face was turned toward the camera. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling the most peaceful smile that Chloe had ever seen on the younger woman’s face.

Chloe smiled at the memory and briefly the thought came to her that she would like to go back to that moment and do everything different, but she quickly brushed it away. As much as she would love to go back and confess her love to Beca and ride off into the sunset together, the way things had actually played out had brought her Zay, and there was nothing in the world, even Beca, that Chloe would trade for him.

Chloe was startled from her musings by a knock on her office door.

“Come in.” She called out.

The door opened and Chloe almost fell out of her chair in shock, when she saw Beca walk in.

“Beca, is everything ok?” Chloe asked worriedly. It had been a few months since the last time Beca had made a surprise visit to her office.

Beca looked back at Chloe questioningly. “Yeah Chlo, everything is fine. Why?”

Chloe sighed in relief and shook her head. “No reason, I just know your schedule is usually pretty tight and you don’t often have time to pop in.”

Beca looked down at her feet as she played with a stray carpet fiber with the toe of her shoe, feeling like the worst girlfriend in the world for not making more time for Chloe.

Chloe, realizing what she had just said, got up and rounded her desk to stand in front of Beca.

“Hey,” She said gently “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just a very pleasant surprise to see you in the middle of the day.”

At that Beca looked up and smiled a shy smile. “I just wanted to drop in and see where you wanted to go for dinner.”

“Dinner?” Chloe asked. Having completely forgotten that Beca had asked her to dinner.

“Yeah, dinner tonight. Just me and you. Remember?”

“Oh right.” Chloe said, fighting down the wave of anger that threatened to overtake her when she remembered exactly why she had forgotten in the first place.

“Chlo?”

Chloe looked up to find Beca staring at her expectantly. “Sorry, what?” she asked, not being entirely successful in keeping the edge out of her voice

“Are you ok?” Beca asked, concern clear in her tone.

Chloe plastered on a smile that she hoped looked convincing.

“Yeah Becs, I’m fine. It’s just been kind of a long day.”

Beca smiled at her, a bright genuine smile. Chloe wasn’t sure if Beca believed her explanation or not, but either way she wasn’t prying. Which once again Chloe was very glad for.

“So what do you think about dinner tonight?” Beca asked.

“Oh I dunno, how about that little Greek place over on 9th?”

“Oh yeah. You’ve been wanting to go there for a while, right?”

Chloe smiled, she was surprised with everything happening lately, that Beca had remembered.

“Yeah I have. I’ve heard it’s pretty amazing.”

“OK then, Greek it is.” Beca said clapping her hands once. “My last meeting is at six and should be done by seven. So say, eight?”

Chloe knew in her heart that this dinner wouldn’t happen. Sometime before the end of the day Beca’s name would pop up on her phone and she would answer to Beca apologizing profusely and swearing that she would make it up to her. She was sure of it, but she still thought it was a sweet gesture on Beca’s part.

“Sounds great.” Chloe said with a smile, that wasn’t entirely faked.

“OK awesome! I’ll see you then.” Beca said just before she leaned forward to press a sweet kiss to Chloe’s lips.

“Yep. See you then.” Chloe said as Beca turned around to leave.

Just after Beca disappeared around the door frame, Chloe called out.

“Beca?”

A moment later Chloe saw Beca’s head pop back into view.

“Yeah?” Beca asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

“I love you.” Chloe said, her voice soft.

Beca’s face broke into a wide toothy grin that made her dark blue eyes sparkle. “I love you too.”

* * *

 

Four hours later and Chloe was up to her elbows in paperwork. After Beca had left her office she had felt a bit better about life and had hit the stack of paper, that she had been avoiding for a week, hard. She

was halfway through the stack and was in the middle of reading an article, that was showcasing one of their best artists in a not so friendly light, when she heard her email notification ding.

Chloe quickly brought up her work email and sighed when she saw that the new email was from Beca and the subject was Dinner.

‘Well’ Chloe thought as she pulled up the email and waited for it to load ‘at least it took her longer to cancel than I thought it would’

When the email was loaded Chloe quickly read it, expecting the worst.

**From: Rebecca Mitchell**

**To: Chloe Beale**

**Subject: Dinner**

**Hey Baby,**

**I had a second between meetings and I just wanted to let you know I’m really excited for dinner tonight.**

**I love you,**

**Beca**

Chloe had to read it three times before it finally stuck that not only was Beca not actually canceling, but she had also taken time out of her crazy day just to say hi. Chloe hit reply and quickly typed a note back.

**From: Chloe Beale**

**To: Rebecca Mitchell**

**Subject: RE: Dinner**

**Ms. Mitchell,**

**I hope this email finds you well. I am also looking forward to our dinner meeting this evening.**

**Regards,**

**Ms. C. Beale ;)**

Chloe smiled as she hit the send button. Less than a minute later her notification sounded again and she clicked on the new message and laughed bright and loud when she read it.

**From: Rebecca Mitchell**

**To: Chloe Beale**

**Subject: RE: RE: Dinner**

**Ms. Beale,**

**You, madam, are a weirdo. ;)**

**Regards,**

**Ms. B. Mitchell**

**P.S. Gotta run to my next meeting now. See you tonight. :***

Chloe’s grin grew a bit more as she closed down her email. Their lives had been so crazy and dramatic lately, she had almost forgotten how good it felt to joke around with Beca. She hadn’t even really realized how much she had missed it until now, but that was a thought for another day. Right now she focused on the thought that Beca was, apparently, actually committed to making it to their dinner and having a nice evening, just the two of them.

More excited than she could recall being in a while, Chloe tried to refocus on the paperwork in front of her. She didn’t want unfinished work hanging over her and Beca’s evening.

* * *

 

Chloe sat, alone, at a table for two at Big Fat Pita, tapping her finger against the stem of her wine glass. It was currently nine fifteen, and not having heard a peep from Beca since the emails they had shared earlier in the day, she didn’t know whether to be irate, or insanely worried. At the moment she seemed to be floating back and forth between the two, at an alarming rate.

She had tried to call Beca at eight thirty, but the call went straight to voicemail, which either meant that Beca hadn’t thought to charge her phone, or she was dead in a ditch somewhere. While Chloe didn’t know which was the case, she did know that if Beca was not in fact lying dead in a ditch, she was going to kill her.

As if on cue Beca came rushing into the restaurant, her eyes quickly roaming over the tables trying to find Chloe. As soon as she spotted the fuming redhead, she knew she was in trouble. Beca approached the table slowly with her hands up, as if she thought Chloe was going to start shooting at any moment. She sat down carefully and said, in lieu of a greeting “I can explain.”

Which, she quickly discovered, was the worst possible thing she could have said, as Chloe exploded, the intense anger she was feeling, clear in her whisper yell.

“Explain what Beca? How you are over an hour late for a date that you insisted on? How you didn’t think to charge your phone at any point during whatever you were doing that made you this late? How at any time you didn’t even consider calling to let me know that you weren’t dead? Beca, you left me sitting here for over an hour, not sure if I should be plotting your death or planning your funeral.”

Beca slid down in her chair a little, trying to make herself as small as possible, while Chloe spoke. She knew Chloe would be angry and she knew that she deserved it, but she honestly wasn’t sure why Chloe was THIS angry. Which seemed to be the case, more often than not lately.

“Chloe, I’m sorry. I had some things in my schedule get rearranged earlier which pushed my last meeting later than I thought and it was with a really big client that I couldn’t bail on. I did think to charge my phone. It’s just that I always use Jen’s charger and she didn’t have it with her today. I would have called on the office phone but I didn’t actually realize it was this late until I was in the car on the way here. I’m really sorry.”

Beca gave Chloe a small smile, that she hoped conveyed just how sorry she was, as she reached across the table to grab Chloe’s hand. She was a little stunned when Chloe pulled her hands back resting them in her lap and looking away from Beca.

“Chlo, baby, I’m sorry, ok? I know I screwed up. Please just talk to me.” When Chloe continued to ignore her she spoke again, her tone a little irritated now, knowing that the situation did not warrant the wrath that was currently being directed at her. “What was I supposed to do Chloe?”

At that Chloe looked back at Beca, her blue eyes burning with anger and the first watery sign of tears not yet shed, and said her voice low and menacing.

“Leave.”

"Chlo, you can't' just walk out of a meeting with Cher. That's not how things work." Beca came back quickly, hoping that dropping Cher’s name would show Chloe exactly how important the meeting had been and maybe calm her a bit, but as Chloe glowered angrily back at Beca before turning her head to look away from her again, Beca knew that, at least in Chloe’s current state of mind, it had no effect.

Chloe knew, logically, that Beca had a point, but she also knew that logic had tragically little to do with what was currently happening in her brain. She was hurt and angry, and every time Beca canceled a date, or made any little slight really, the hurt and anger intensified.

Chloe sighed heavily and rubbed her eyes before looking back to Beca and saying, her voice sounding more tired than angry now, "Go home Beca."

Beca's relief was clear in the way she exhaled and slumped down even further in her chair, she hated fighting with Chloe and was always relieved when it was over.

"Ok, no problem. I'll grab some burgers or something and meet you there."

"No Beca, your home."

Chloe felt a pang of guilt shoot through her as she watched Beca's expression morph from confused, to shocked, to hurt and quickly added. "I just need to be alone tonight."

Beca looked down at her hands, that were clasped tightly in her lap, and simply said.

"Oh." The hurt on her face being mirrored in the tone of her voice.

Chloe's heart broke at the sound, but it couldn't be helped. If this situation was going to see any type of resolution, there was only one thing to do, something she had been putting off for far too long now. She was going to have to confront Jen, tomorrow, and She needed time to prepare herself. She couldn't do that if Beca was with her, no matter how much it hurt seeing her this sad.

Chloe quickly, before she could lose her nerve, got up, laid a fifty-dollar bill next to her empty plate and walked around the table towards the door. She stopped briefly as she passed Beca to give her shoulder a quick squeeze, before saying “I’ll see you tomorrow.” and continuing on her path out of the restaurant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there we have it, an angry Chloe, a hurting Beca and a looming confrontation between Chloe and Jen. The plot does indeed thicken. Tune in next time for the next segment of Operation Tit Punch!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Here we go!  
> Submitted for your approval…  
> Disclaimer: Yeah, no.

Chloe reached over and slammed her fist down, hard, on her alarm clock. Silencing it and very possibly breaking it, if the loud cracking sound she heard was anything to go by. This morning though, she couldn’t bring herself to care. She had been awake for hours, going over and over her impending confrontation with Jenifer in her head.

Chloe knew the situation needed to be handled with kid gloves, but she couldn’t help thinking that all she really wanted to do was march into the office and do to Jenifer’s face what she had just done to her alarm clock. The thought scared her a little. Chloe had never been a violent person. Always preferring to use words instead of force to remedy things, but now, with Jenifer, Chloe couldn’t deny the appeal of simply pummeling her into submission.

Chloe sighed and sat up, throwing her legs over the edge of the bed and looked out the window, fingers gripping the edge of the mattress tightly. There were so many things wrong in her life currently, she didn’t even have a spare concern to throw at the troublingly violent thought. No, she had to focus on the problem at hand.

She had decided that the road to success, in her mission, was going to be paved with all of the little details. First, she had to dress the part. She went to her closet and pulled out her most intimidating power suit, and after a quick search of her shoe rack, found a pair of heels that, while still professional, would be high enough to significantly increase her natural five foot four.

Happy with her choices, Chloe hung the suit on the back of her closet door and placed the heels side by side underneath it, before heading off to the bathroom for a quick shower. After her shower, she put on her make up. Opting for much darker and harsher colors than she usually wore, applying them with a light touch, as to look intimidating, but not like something out of a bad nineties horror movie. When her makeup was done she moved on to her hair, straightening it and pulling it back into a severe pony tail.

She quickly got dressed and stepped in front of the full length mirror hanging on the back of her closet door, to inspect her work. She stood for a moment, staring at her reflection. She was impressed. Where there was usually a smiling, happy woman, dressed in bright colors. There was now a business woman, in a black power suit, that no one in their right mind would cross. Chloe smiled at her reflection, that’s just how she wanted it.

As Chloe turned to walk out of her bedroom she caught another glimpse of herself out of the corner of her eye and stopped. She turned again to face the mirror, quickly realizing that she looked very much, now, like she had during her time in Chicago. With that thought came the flash of a memory. Beca standing in the airport terminal sobbing, holding herself and calling out for Chloe to come back, while Chloe kept walking, never even glancing back.

Chloe shook her head hard, as if she could physically remove the memory. Shake it from her brain, banish it to the void. Never to be seen or heard from again. It seemed to work for a moment, but before she could even breathe a sigh of relief, the image of Beca sitting at the table, the night before, came to her. Chloe heard the dejected tone in Beca’s voice as she said ‘Oh’ and realized how similar it sounded to that moment four years ago.

Chloe shook her head again and stood up straighter. She couldn’t do anything about what had happened four years ago, but she could do something about what was going on right now. Jenifer was the reason for this whole mess, and she was going to see to it that it ended today, before it got any worse than it already was.

* * *

 

Chloe saw the security guard sitting at the front desk, look up from his magazine at the sound of her heels clicking angrily on the marble floor of the lobby. The two of them usually shared some friendly banter in the morning. Talking about the weather or simply wishing the other a good day, but this morning, after one look at the determined redhead, the security guard shrunk down in his chair and only offered a polite “Good morning Ms. Beale.” As Chloe passed him.

“Good morning Joe.” Chloe said back quickly, and smiled in her head. That was exactly the reaction she was going for. She only hoped it worked as well on Jenifer.

As Chloe stepped into the elevator, she checked her watch. Seven twenty-five on the dot. She knew Jenifer, recently at least, had been getting to the office a half an hour before Beca, presumably so she could find as many ways to screw up their lives as possible, and Chloe wanted this whole thing done before Beca was even anywhere near the building.

When Chloe got to the top floor she quietly made her way to her own office, dropping off her purse and checking her reflection in the small mirror she kept in her desk drawer, quickly making sure she still looked as intimidating as she had when she left her house. Satisfied with what she saw, she made her way down the hall to Beca’s pre-office.

Chloe stopped just outside the doorway, making sure she was not in Jenifer’s view, and took a deep breath. She knew it was now or never. She had already put this off for too long and she and Beca were both suffering because of it. With that thought, Chloe pulled herself up to her full height, squared her shoulders, stepped into the doorway and knocked once on the door frame, loudly.

Jenifer jumped in surprise and Chloe had to fight the urge to smile at the small victory.

Jenifer, realizing who was standing in the doorway, quickly schooled her expression into the one of apathetic disdain that she usually wore in the redhead’s presence, and in her most bored voice said “Ms. Bales.”

Chloe felt the wave of anger crash over her as she mentally restrained herself. The urge to grab Jenifer by the hair and slam her face into her desk was nearly overwhelming. Pushing away the startlingly pleasing visual, Chloe said in her most authoritative tone “Jenifer, we need to talk.”

Jenifer’s eyebrow twitched up for just an instant, in what Chloe could only assume to be surprise, before she put on the kind of smile that one might associate with a serial killer. Sickeningly sweet, but with an undercurrent of danger, that is visible just around the edges and only if you know what you’re looking for.

“Oh? Whatever about, Ms. Bales?” Jenifer said, her tone as saccharine sweet as her smile.

Chloe bristled internally, she was trying so hard not to let the other woman get to her, but with every word that came out of Jenifer’s mouth it got exponentially harder. She took a shallow breath and counted to three before speaking, her voice hard and cold.

“I know what you are doing, and it stops here and now.”

“Pray tell? What exactly is it, that I’m doing, that needs to stop?” Jenifer came back, in a mocking tone.

Chloe felt the anger in her core flare from red to white hot. She knew she had to do something to make Jenifer take her seriously. She stepped into the office, each move of her body slow and calculated, like a lioness stalking her prey, through the tall grass of the savannah, moments away from pouncing. She stopped at the edge of Jenifer’s desk, put her palms flat on the surface and leaned forward, invading Jenifer’s space. A thrill shot through her as she saw Jenifer fidget, ever so slightly, obviously uncomfortable with having the redhead so close.

When Chloe spoke, her voice was low and dangerous and she spoke slowly, as if she was talking to a child.

“You are, among other things, trying to work Beca to death by putting the lion’s share of your work, and probably a few other people’s work as well, off on her. You are scheduling her for things specifically so she has no time to spend with me, and when you have nothing to schedule you trump up a small issue to make it sound like a catastrophe, so she has to come into the office during her off time. On a broader spectrum you are taking the trust that she has obviously misplaced in you and abusing it. This stops now.”

Chloe watched Jenifer’s face closely as she was speaking and saw, faintly, shock play around the corners of her still smug expression. She obviously didn’t think Chloe would actually be onto her little game.

The slight shocked look passed as quickly as it had come, and Jenifer stood up placing her own hands flat on her desk and leaning forward, mirroring Chloe’s stance and bringing their faces to within inches of each other.

Chloe fought every instinct within herself, telling her to back up, and held her ground.

When Jenifer spoke her voice was just as low and dangerous as Chloe’s had been a moment before.

“You don’t know jack, Bales. The only thing I’m doing, is the same thing that I’ve been doing for the past four years, keeping this business afloat. Yeah, Beca has more work to do because we’re busier than we’ve ever been before, and regardless of how fucked up the reason, she’s finally in a mental state where she can do her own work. Besides, you’ve seen Beca cancel her meetings and even whole days just on a whim. Don’t you think that if you were that important to her that she would make time for you? Just the fact that you can go a week without seeing her should tell you something. Now if you don’t mind I have work to do.” As Jenifer finished speaking, she sat back down and turned her back on Chloe to face her computer.

Jenifer’s last statement shook Chloe to her very soul. She knew logically that Jenifer was wrong, that there were just a lot of different situations all mixed into one that were causing Beca to act the way she was, but the fact that Jenifer had so easily and casually given voice to Chloe’s greatest fear and insecurity, sort of punted logic out the window. 

Despite the fears now chasing their own tails round and round in Chloe’s head, she pressed on. She had not come this far to give up now.

“I’m not kidding around Jenifer. I know that everything you just said is total bullshit. Stop this or I’m taking it to Beca and laying the whole thing out to her.” Chloe’s voice was firm as she finished. She knew this was her last ditch effort. The one threat she had, that had the possibility to make Jenifer take notice.

When Jenifer turned around in her chair, threw her head back and laughed, Chloe’s heart fell into the pit of her stomach and she knew that something had backfired.

“Really? That’s your big threat? You know, I’d have been more scared if you had just threatened to kick my ass. Let me ask you a question Chloe.” Jenifer spit out Chloe’s name like it was the foulest word she could ever imagine, “If you go to Beca and tell her this bizarre sob story about how I’m putting all my work off on her and trying to ruin your lives, do you really think she’s going to believe it? I mean seriously, I am the one that kept this label running when she could barely get out of bed. The one who took care of her, when she couldn’t take care of herself. The only one she opened up to about the whole situation. Who do you think she’s going to believe? The one who was by her side through the three years of hell…  Or the one who caused it?”

Chloe wanted to respond. To come back with something scathing to put Jenifer in her place, but the fact that she knew Jenifer was, at least, partially right, took all the wind of righteous indignation out of her sails. Her head was filled with white noise, her heart hurt, so she simply stood, mouth open, gaping at Jenifer.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Jenifer said, smugly, before turning back around and starting to type something.

* * *

 

Chloe walked out of Beca’s pre-office in some sort of stupor and as soon as Jen was sure she was nowhere around, she turned and braced her elbows on her desk putting her head in her hands. How had Bales figured out what she was doing? There was no actual way she could know for sure. Jen had covered her tracks well, or at least she thought she had. She had put a good portion of her work off on Beca, but not so much that she herself seemed to be doing nothing. Everything else had been pulled from different people around the company, talent reps, producers, hell even file clerks. Never people from the same department and never more than a few tasks at a time from each of them.

She honestly did feel bad, for working Beca as hard as she had been, but she knew in the long run it was all for the best. Chloe was poison for Beca, there was absolutely no doubt in Jen’s mind about that. She knew that Beca would never see reason if she just tried to talk to her. The redhead had some kind of hold on Beca that Jen didn’t even come close to understanding, but she knew that if she could get Beca away from Chloe she might actually be able to talk some sense into her, and since they had been attached at the hip for months, the only way to do that was to keep Beca busy with work.

Jen was actually just hoping to keep them apart for a while, but the wedge that the distance seemed to be driving between them was even better. Jen wanted Chloe gone, completely and for good, but even though her plan had been working even better than she had intended, so far, she knew that she was going to have to step her game up, to see it through to the end.

Jen was brought out of her thoughts by her phone chiming with the notification tone she had set for Beca. She quickly glanced down at the clock on her computer as she grabbed her phone. Beca was already fifteen minutes late. Jen swiped the screen of her phone and looked at the message from Beca.

Running a bit late, can you cancel my first meeting please?

Jen thought for a moment about reading Beca the riot act for being late and canceling a meeting, considering that’s what she would do on any normal day, but because Jen knew Beca wasn’t with Chloe and probably hadn’t even spent the night with her, she decided to let it go and quickly text back.

Yep np. U ok?

Her phone chimed again and she quickly pulled up the message.

Yep, fine. Just slept through my alarm. :/ Be there in a bit. 

Jen had heard Beca’s alarm, the few times Beca had taken a nap in her office and she knew that there was no way in hell that Beca could ever sleep through that thing.

Jen smiled to herself, quickly made the necessary phone calls to cancel Beca’s morning, and then got down to the task of planning the final act of “Operation Tit Punch”.

* * *

 

To say that Chloe was pissed, would be the understatement of the century. The fuming redhead was pacing her office, occasionally punching the wall when she would come to it, before turning on her heel and marching back towards the other wall. All of the things that she should have said to Jenifer, now flooding her mind. As she thought over the comments she should have made, which ranged anywhere from mild, to downright evil, to absolutely vulgar, she couldn’t help but think about the last few words Jen had said to her, and what a low blow it was.

Chloe knew that she had fucked up four years ago. There was no doubt, at all, in her mind about that. It was something that haunted her every day. In fact, before Beca had come back into her life, there wasn’t a day that had gone by, when she didn’t flash back to Beca standing in the airport, sobbing and calling out to her, and each time it happened, hurt a little more than the last.

Chloe knew that she didn’t deserve Beca, but for some reason she was still what Beca wanted, and the little DJ deserved, more than most, to finally be happy. So when Beca had come, willingly, back into Chloe’s life. Chloe had vowed to herself, to spend each and every moment that she could, trying to make up, to Beca, for what she had done that day.

To have something like that, that she was trying, so hard to repent for, brought up and used against her by someone like Jenifer, it just… It just… Chloe didn’t even know. It was reprehensible, it was vile…

‘It was fair’ Chloe heard a little voice from the far back of her mind say. She stopped dead in her tracks, mid pace. She felt the sinking feeling, that she had felt earlier, when her threat to Jenifer backfired on her. She knew the little voice in the back of her head was right. 

Chloe calmly walked over and sat back down in her desk chair. She rested her elbows on her desk and let her head fall into her hands. She knew that, to have any peace in her mind at all, she needed to reconcile her love for Beca, with Beca’s love for her and her thought of what each of them did or didn’t deserve. The only problem being, that Chloe, with the current tumultuous state of her mind and heart, had no earthly idea how to do that.

* * *

 

Beca stepped out of the elevator and immediately made a bee line for her own office. She knew that she needed to talk to Chloe, but she was nowhere near ready to do it. She walked through her pre-office and after exchanging a quick greeting with Jen, who seemed to be totally engrossed in some document on her computer, walked into her own office, shutting the door and quickly walking over to sit at her desk.

As Beca sat there in the comfortable silence of her office, her eyes found the picture of her and Chloe in Copenhagen, that was a permanent fixture on her desk. She stared at the picture, wondering what had gone wrong.

When Chloe had come back into her life almost a year ago, Beca had been happier than she could ever recall being. She finally had everything she ever wanted and a few things she never even knew that she wanted. She was a successful music producer with her own label, she had the love of her life, a ready-made family, and a best friend who she trusted more than she had ever trusted anyone, except for Chloe. Life was better than Beca had ever thought it could be, but still, somehow, within the span of a year everything had managed to go back to being horrible.

She and Chloe were fighting constantly, and even though Chloe did have every right to be mad about a lot of the things they fought about, she always seemed to get madder than was really necessary. Beca knew there had to be something else. Something that was driving this anger and fueling it into the rage that it had become, but for the life of her, she had no idea what it could be.

Work was busier and crazier than ever. Half the time she didn’t know whether she was coming or going or where she was supposed to be.

The only thing in her life that had stayed stable and good was Jen.  Jen had been there for her through, what Beca had come to call, her dark times. Jen had been her rock, making sure the company stayed afloat and that Beca herself was always taken care of, fed, healthy. Beca knew that she probably still leaned a little too heavily on Jen, but old habits die hard, and Jen was always so good at sorting out things that Beca couldn’t make sense of. Beca honestly didn’t know what she would do if she lost the woman, who had started as her assistant and grown into her best friend.

“Beca?”

Beca jerked her head up at the sound of someone gently calling her name from the other side of her office. She smiled a sad smile when she saw Jen standing next to the door.

“Hey Jen. What’s up?”

Jen returned the smile and walked across her office to sit in the chair in front of Beca’s desk.

“Not much really, I just wanted to come check on you. You seemed kind of off when you came through.”

Beca sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Yeah, I’m ok. Just had a rough night is all.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Jen asked, her voice sounding concerned.

Beca chuckled, and Jen laughed lightly at the reaction before adding.

“Ok, so I know you don’t WANT to talk about it, but it kind of sounds like you need to.”

Beca smiled sadly again “It’s just, I don’t know what’s going on with Chloe. I know I haven’t been able to spend much time with her lately, but it’s like even when I can spend time with her, we just end up fighting and she gets way more mad than the situation calls for. You know? I mean she’s just been acting so weird and distant and that is so not Chloe.” Beca finished with a deep sigh.

Jen’s face took on a concerned look, “You know, I had a friend in college, she had been with the same guy since, like, middle school I think. They started having issues like this. He would get all moody and defensive, and he started spending nights alone at his dorm when they had always before, stayed together at her apartment.”

“Really? What was the problem?” Beca asked

“She found out that he had been cheating on her with the girls’ basketball team.” 

“Wow, the whole team?” Beca asked in shock.

“Yep. It was bad.” Jen said, nodding.

“Wow!” Beca said, trying to wrap her head around the story, before quickly adding “Wait, you’re not implying that Chloe is cheating on me, are you?”

“No, no, no.” Jen said, holding her hands up in front of her, “Of course not. I’m just saying that when there’s a sudden change in personality or behavior, there is usually some other underlying issue behind it.”

“Yeah, I know.” Beca said absently, seeming to get lost in her thoughts for a moment “but Chloe would never cheat on me.” She finally finished, sounding not quite as sure as she had a moment before.

“No, I know she wouldn’t.” Jen said resolutely, before adding. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to imply that she would.”

“It’s fine.” Beca said, waving the concern off.

Both women sat in silence for a few moments before Beca spoke up again.

“Listen Jen, I’ve got some paperwork I need to catch up on, since I’ve got a free minute.”

“Yeah, no problem” Jen said with a smile “Just let me know if you need anything, ok?”

“Will do.” Beca shot back, wearing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Jen got up and made her way out of Beca’s office, smiling as soon as the door between them was shut.

“The seed has been planted” She said quietly to herself before making her way back to her own desk and starting her day.

* * *

 

Two hours later and Chloe was, once again, up and pacing her office, but instead of the violent, wall punching state she was in earlier, she was now walking thoughtfully and absently chewing her thumbnail. She had spent all morning thinking, rethinking and over thinking, and she still hadn’t come to any sort of conclusion. At this point, she wasn’t even totally sure what she was trying to come to the conclusion of.

 She loved Beca. That she was sure of. She was also sure that Beca loved her. Another thing she knew was that this whole problem started because of what she had done four years ago, but Jen was the reason that the problem was still going strong.

At the thought of Jen and their earlier exchange, Chloe’s anger came crashing back down on her. She heard the sound of her office door opening and without bothering to look at who had just come in, snapped at the unwelcome intruder.

“WHAT!?”

Beca flinched at the tone in Chloe’s voice, but took the step into Chloe’s office anyway, and shut the door behind her.

“Hi.” Beca said softly, doing her best to not anger her girlfriend any more than she apparently already was.

Chloe spun around to see Beca standing just inside the door looking cautious and pinched the bridge of her nose, sighed and quickly walked around her desk, sitting down hard in her chair.

“What do you want Beca?” she asked, in a tone that was much calmer than the one she had used a moment before, but still not friendly, by any means.

Beca smiled a smile that contained much more sadness than joy and slowly moved to sit in the chair in front of Chloe’s desk. She adjusted a few times, making sure she was sitting comfortably, before she finally spoke.

“I was hoping we could talk for a minute.” Beca kept her tone soft, she knew this conversation needed to happen, but she really didn’t want to do anything to set the volatile redhead off.

“About what?” Chloe asked on a heavy sigh, sounding tired.

Beca sat in silence for a moment. She didn’t quite know how to approach the subject and as she quickly ran over the possibilities in her head, a thought occurred to her. No matter what, this was Chloe, her Chloe. She would just talk to her like she always had and somehow everything would be ok, just like it always was. Feeling a little surer of herself after the reassuring thought, she scooted her chair a little closer to Chloe’s desk, rested her clasped hands on the surface, took a deep breath and said, “What’s been going on with you lately Chlo?”

Chloe’s eyes hardened at the question and she cocked an eyebrow at Beca, in lieu of a response.

“I’m not trying to upset you or anything and I know that times have been kinda tough lately, but something is going on. Something more than just me being away so much. You are hurting and I need you to tell me why.” Beca said calmly.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Chloe responded quickly, her tone flat.

“Bullshit!” Beca all but yelled, her irritation and worry finally getting the better of her. Chloe flinched at the volume and Beca continued, letting her frustration sound in her voice. “You keep saying you are fine, but you are obviously not. The smallest thing sends you into a rage. Things that you wouldn’t have even batted an eye about six months ago, you’re now treating like the end of the world. You spend almost every moment we’re together mad at me and then you won’t even tell me what’s wrong. Please Chlo, just talk to me.”

Beca paused to wait for a response. When all she got from Chloe was the same hard stare she had been getting since she walked into her office, she pressed on, softening her tone as she did.

“Look Chlo, I know life with me hasn’t been easy recently, and I’m sorry. You know all about how busy I’ve been, so I won’t bore you with that speech. It’s not an excuse anyway. I know I’ve got to be better for you, and I’m trying. I really am, but I need you to try too. I love you and I need you to talk to me. I would go through hell and back for you, but I can’t fix what’s broken if I don’t know what it is.”

Chloe felt tears starting to burn the backs of her eyes and blinked a few times to keep them from falling. Once again Beca was, unknowingly, proving just how much Chloe didn’t deserve her, and for the first time in quite a while Chloe was at a total loss. She had no clue what to do or what to say. She knew she was the one that had the fixing to do, but she couldn’t actually talk to Beca about any of that. So instead of answering, Chloe sat there silently. Staring blankly at the woman she had been in love with for nine years. Feeling the crushing weight of her secrets pressing down on her heart, knowing that it was her burden to bear, alone.

Taking Chloe’s silence to mean the worst, Beca took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that were threatening to fall. When she spoke her voice was soft and broken.

“You’re cheating on me, aren’t you?”

“WHAT?! NO! Beca, how could you even ask me that?”  Chloe immediately responded, her voice sounding as indignant as the question made her feel.

Beca breathed a quick sigh of relief, just before her anger flared back to life.

“Because you don’t talk to me anymore Chloe. You and I have always talked about everything. Any time anything has been wrong, we talk about it. We figure it out together, but now… now, you barely say anything to me, ever. I mean come on! You are the one who pulled me out of my shell in college and got me to open up. You are the one who taught me the importance of honest communication, but now, even though something is clearly wrong, you won’t say a word to me about it. So it is obviously something that you’re not comfortable talking to me about. What am I supposed to think?”

Chloe stood up, crossed her arms over her chest and began pacing behind her desk. She knew that she should keep her mouth shut, just let Beca say her piece and move on, but the longer Beca talked the angrier Chloe got. How could she accuse her of cheating? How could she say all these things? Chloe knew that in her heart of hearts she wasn’t really angry at Beca, but the longer this situation went on, the harder it became to distinguish who she was and wasn’t actually mad at, and even harder to determine the right person to strike out at.

“You are always pushing me.” Chloe said, her voice low, angry and gravelly from trying to hold back the tears, that wanted so badly to fall, “You can never just leave me be. I tell you I’m OK, that I’m just having a bit of a rough time, that there’s nothing to talk about, but you can’t just leave it. You just have to keep pushing and prodding, trying to get me to open up and talk and bare my soul. Well guess what Beca, it’s not going to happen. I’m going through some shit ok, and maybe, right now, that’s all you need to know.”

Beca stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, the longer this went on the more confused she got. This was not Chloe.

“Chloe, whatever the problem is I can help, just let me in and we can take care of it together.”

“Stop pushing me!”  Chloe yelled, stopping her pacing to lean over her desk towards Beca.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong!” Beca yelled back, leaning forward mimicking Chloe.

“No!” Chloe growled.

Beca opened her mouth to respond, but stopped before anything came out. This was getting them nowhere and, if possible, they were actually worse off now than when she had walked in a few minutes before.  

Beca took a deep breath and stood up straight. She scrubbed her face with her hands and looked at Chloe. There were so many conflicting emotions playing clearly on the redhead’s face and with the suit and straight hair, it reminded Beca so much of how Chloe had looked four years ago. Just the thought sent a chill of fear running up Beca’s spine.

She wanted to grab Chloe and shake her, make her see what she was doing to their relationship. Whatever the problem was, Beca knew she could help, even if it was just to offer support, but no, every time Beca tried to step up Chloe just shut her out and pushed her farther away. There were a lot of things that Beca could take, that she would put up with for Chloe’s sake, but even she had her limits.

Beca turned and walked towards the door, stopping just before she opened it and said over her shoulder, “Call me when you’re ready to talk.” Before walking out of Chloe’s office for what she desperately hoped was not the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thoughts? Lay ‘em on me! (Please! I really can’t wait to hear what you guys thought of this whole business!)   
> I can say with some confidence that the next chapter will/should be the conclusion of Operation Tit Punch. Buckle up kids, it’s going to be a rough ride.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So first I just want to say I am so sorry it’s taken me so long to update. My mom was in the hospital for a week and my whole family, including me, was sick for a while so it’s been kind of a tough time lately. 
> 
> Second I would like to say WOW! The response to the last chapter was absolutely overwhelming (in a totally good way). The response was fairly mixed, but it definitely seemed to strike a chord with a lot of you. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts with me! I have taken many of them to heart and have decided to combine what was originally supposed to be the next two chapters into one. So brace yourselves for a long one. 
> 
> We are finally at the conclusion of “Operation Tit Punch” and just to get it all out of the way in one fell swoop we will also see the aftermath of the same. 
> 
> I don’t usually do this because I think the story kind of speaks for itself in terms of what is coming up, but I am going to go ahead and throw up an angst warning just in case anyone wasn’t sure. No one dies or anything (this isn’t The 100), but it is going to hurt. 
> 
> For the song that comes later on in the chapter it’s called Grey by Ani DiFranco and I would suggest giving it a listen before/during that part of the chapter. It should really help with the mindset at that time. You can find it pretty much anywhere you look iTunes/Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify. Pretty much all the usual places.
> 
> Submitted for your approval…
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own PP 1, 2, any of the characters that come from it, or any of the songs used herein.

Beca sat in her office, silently staring, as she had for so many years, at the picture of her and Chloe in Copenhagen, sitting proudly on her desk. It had been two full weeks since she had spoken to or even seen her favorite redhead and the distance had more than taken its toll.

She had thought, so many times, about just going to Chloe, popping into her office for lunch, or stopping by her house after work to say hi. Anything to have some type of contact with her love, but she knew realistically she couldn’t do that. She had thrown down a gauntlet, given an ultimatum that had to stand.

Something was going on with Chloe, that much was painfully clear and Beca wanted to help, but until Chloe opened up, there was nothing she could do, except wait and hope that eventually she would come around.

* * *

 

Chloe was up, once again, pacing the floor of her office, wringing her hands and mumbling to herself under her breath. Being away from Beca was killing her. There hadn’t been a moment in the previous two weeks that she hadn’t thought about just going to Beca, opening up and telling her everything, but there were still so many problems with that. She had already let things go on for so long, she had no idea how to explain why and even worse she didn’t have any clue how to even start the conversation.

‘Beca can I talk to you for a second? Jen is trying to break us up and work you to death. Yeah, she told me that’s how I know. Oh yeah, I’ve known for months, sorry I never told you.’ Chloe face palmed herself as she shook her head, she knew she needed to fix this, but she also knew there was no easy way to do it.

Chloe still hadn’t been able to reconcile her feelings of not deserving Beca with her love for her, but she had pushed that to the back burner for the time being, because of a bigger realization that she had made. As infuriating as Chloe still found Jen, her confrontation with Beca and made her finally realize that this issue was much less about her fight with Jen as it was her relationship with Beca. Yes, what Jen was doing was hurting her and Beca, but what she was doing was hurting them even more. Her silence and refusal to let Beca in, had Beca questioning the very foundation of their relationship. It took Chloe a few days to come down from the anger of Beca’s accusations, but once she did she realized the hell that Beca must be going through to even come up with something like that.

Chloe reached up to scratch her nose absentmindedly and felt wetness on her cheeks. She was so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t even realized she was crying. As she brought her hand away from her face she looked at her fingertips and the moisture gathered there. She suddenly realized how stupid this whole situation was. Here she was standing in her office crying over a woman who was right down the hall from her, just waiting for her to come and make things right. This was Beca, her Beca. She could tell her anything and while she might get mad, Chloe knew everything would right itself in the end.

With a new determination burning behind her eyes. Chloe Beale stood up and made her way out of her office, on a mission to get her woman back.

* * *

 

“BECA!”

“What?” Beca almost screamed in surprise as she snapped her head up and tore her eyes away from the picture of her and Chloe, to find Jen standing in the doorway of her office. She immediately dropped her head and rubbed her forehead. “Sorry Jen, I was lost in thought. What’s up?”

“S’ok,” Jen said with a small smile, as she walked into Beca’s office and sat down in the chair in front of her desk. “You just seemed off this morning and I wanted to come in and make sure you’re ok.”

“Oh, Yeah. I’m fine.” Beca said with a smile that was lightyears away from actually reaching her eyes.

“Really?” Jen asked incredulously.

Beca laughed, a sound that held no amusement and looked at Jenifer. “No, not really.”

“I knew that.” Jenifer said with a small, sad smile, before quickly adding, “Now come on, spill.”

Beca sighed wearily, braced her elbows on her desk, dropped her head into her hands and said on another heavy sigh “It’s just this whole thing with Chloe.”

“What whole thing with Chloe?” Jen asked with genuine curiosity. She knew that something had been going on during the last two weeks. She had been able to gather that simply from Beca’s demeanor, but she had no idea of the specifics.

“That’s the thing!” Beca said, flinging her arms out in frustration and throwing her head back against the headrest of her chair. “I don’t even know what is actually going on. I know something, something big, has been bothering her. So two weeks ago I went into her office and asked her to talk to me. She refused and got defensive, so I got mad and walked out. I told her to call me when she wanted to talk and I haven’t seen or heard from her at all since.”

“Wow,” Was all Jen said, as she tried to keep from smiling. She felt bad that Beca was hurting and she felt even worse for the part she had played in it, but she held fast to her belief that this was the best thing for Beca and was glad that her hard work seemed to be paying off.

“Yeah,” Beca said, only hearing the sympathy in Jen’s voice.

 In the lull of the conversation Beca’s eyes and attention wandered back to the picture on her desk and she had the sudden urge to pick it up and throw it across the room. Instead, she quickly got up and turned around to face the large picture window that sat at her back. She braced her hand on the sill and looked out over the skyline of Los Angeles, taking deep breaths to try to calm down.

“You know,” Beca started, speaking partially to Jen, partially to herself and partially to no one in particular, “I think the worst part about this is, that there is nothing I wouldn’t do for Chloe. Nothing I wouldn’t let her do to me. If I’m being honest, but that woman that I talked to two weeks ago was not Chloe. It was some stubborn, angry, redheaded stranger that I’ve never seen before,” Beca paused, she was mostly talking to herself at this point and she had no reason to lie. “Actually, I take that back. I have seen her before. She’s the Chloe that came to see me four years ago… I just don’t know what to do,” She finished sadly.  

Beca had almost forgotten that she wasn’t alone in her office and the warm hand that was suddenly being pressed firmly into her shoulder made her jump. Jen chuckled at Beca’s reaction and said soothingly “Hey, it’s just me.”

Beca smiled and patted the hand still on her shoulder while keeping her eyes trained out the window. “I know and thank you.”

“For what?” Jen asked, a puzzled look on her face.

Beca sighed, “Just for everything. You’ve always been here for me Jen, no matter what. I really appreciate that.”

Jen smiled warmly at Beca’s back and then spoke softly. “When you say you don’t know what to do, about Chloe, what do you mean?”

Beca sighed again and turned to face Jen, crossing her arms over her chest and letting her back rest against the cool glass of the window. “Honestly, it means what it means. I just have no idea what to do. I didn’t know how to deal with her when she was like this four years ago and I don’t know how to deal with her now.”

“Are you thinking about leaving her?” Jen asked, softening her tone even more.

“What?! NO?!” Beca almost shouted, making Jen jump. “No, no, no, no, no that has never even crossed my mind!” Beca added, throwing her hands up in front of her, as if simply emphatically denying the ridiculous idea wasn’t enough.

Jen, mimicking Beca’s response, threw her hands up in defense, “Hey, ok. I wasn’t trying to say anything. It’s just…” she stopped and looked away.

“What?” Beca asked confusion written plainly on her face.

“No, it’s nothing,” Jen answered a little too quickly.

“No, Jen. What is it?” Beca asked again, now starting to get worried. “I want to know what you were going to say.”

It was now Jen’s turn to sigh. “It’s just that…”

“What?” Beca prompted, now, somewhat irritatedly. She was already an emotional mess and was so, not in the mood for cryptic.

“It’s just that in the last two weeks you’ve been acting almost the same way you did for the three years Chloe was gone, and it scares me,” Jen said in a rush of breath.

Beca stood, mouth agape, with her back pressed against the window, her arms dangling limply at her sides. She hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that Jen had said it out loud, she could see it. She, of course, hadn’t been as disassociated as she had been for those three years, but the resemblances were striking.

“I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but what if Chloe isn’t really the one for you? I mean it seems like every time she comes into your life; you just end up hurting.” Jen said hesitantly.

Beca simply stood staring blankly at Jen, she felt vaguely like someone had touched two live wires in her brain together, that after electrocuting her, had shorted out her whole system.

Jen misunderstanding Beca’s silence for, at least, a slight acceptance continued, “Maybe there is someone else out there for you. Someone who could truly appreciate you, who would communicate openly with you and make you feel as cherished as you deserve to feel… Someone… like me.” Jen finished softly.

Beca was quickly starting to feel like she had fallen asleep and had woken up in someone else’s story, she had no idea what was going on or how they had gotten here.

“Jen…” she said, but quickly stopped when she realized she had no idea how to even begin to finish that sentence.

Once again, taking Beca’s hesitation for agreement, Jen threw caution to the wind and surged forward, wrapping her arms around Beca’s waist.

“I love you Beca Mitchell,” She whispered just before she leaned forward the tiniest bit more and connected their lips.

The kiss ended almost as quickly as it had started when both women heard the sound of someone clearing their throat from the other side of the room.

Beca jumped back like she was afraid the spot she had previously been standing would be hit by lightning any second. She threw her hands up in front of herself as she turned to face Chloe.

“Chloe, this is not what it looks like. I swear.” Beca said, the anxiety and fear, ringing strongly in her voice.

Chloe held her hand up, effectively silencing the younger woman. The sharpness of the motion scared Beca. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath and steeling herself for what she thought was coming next.

“So that’s what this has been about this whole time?” Chloe asked, her voice low and angry.

Beca opened her eyes and looked at Chloe in confusion, she was just about to ask what she meant by that when she realized that Chloe was neither looking at, nor talking to her. Which did nothing to alleviate the confusion, although it did make her feel a slight bit better that she was not the current object of the redhead’s rage.

“I have no idea what you are talking about Bales,” Jen said flippantly, but with a tiny quiver in her voice that didn’t escape Chloe’s attention.

“Don’t fuck with me Frank.” Chloe almost growled.

As Jen and Chloe seemed to be having something of a stare down; Beca found herself torn between hiding under her desk in a desperate attempt to stay out of the line of fire and butting in to find out exactly what the hell was going on.

When the silence in the room continued and only became more tense Beca finally decided on the latter and spoke up.

“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here, because I seem to be the only person in the room who isn’t in the loop?

Chloe turned to Beca and the anger she saw burning fiercely in the redhead’s eyes was almost enough to make her change her mind and go back to plan A of hiding under her desk, but her curiosity was piqued so she stood her ground.

Chloe’s gaze quickly softened and shifted to something that looked much too much like regret for Beca’s liking. Chloe sighed heavily, looked down and then took a deep breath, seeming to almost deflate as she exhaled. When she finally spoke her voice was soft and sad.

“Jenifer has been trying to break us up for months. The night she and I went out to dinner, the night she told me about what you had gone through the three years that I was gone, she told me that she would personally see to keeping me away from you. I didn’t put much stock in it at first because I really didn’t see how she would be able to do it and I thought that once she saw how happy we were she would forget about it, but over the last six months or so I realized she had found a way.”

Chloe stopped and looked up at Beca, who was looking back at her with wide, shocked eyes. When Beca didn’t respond, Chloe continued.

“She’s been putting a ton of her own work off on you, and probably pulling work from other departments too. That’s why you’ve been so busy lately. She knew the only way to keep us apart was to make sure you were here every possible waking hour. Think about it. Think about the tasks that you’ve been doing the last few months. Are they really things that the owner of the company should be worrying about?” Chloe let the question hang in the air for a moment and then continued. “She knew you wouldn’t question her, because she’d been the one keeping the label running for three years. You trusted her to let you know what to do and when to do it and she used that against you.”

Beca, who had moved up to brace herself on her desk while Chloe was talking, fell back into her desk chair. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. At some point during the morning, she must have stepped into a poorly written romance novel without noticing, because even as farfetched as that idea was, it still made more sense than what was happening in her office at this very moment.

Beca opened her eyes and looked to Jen who was standing ramrod straight and still in the same place she had been when the conversation started.

“Why?” Beca asked sounding confused and hurt at the same time.

“Beca, please. You can’t tell me you actually believe any of that.” Jen said incredulously, while motioning towards Chloe. “She’s obviously just paranoid and has concocted some crazy story to make herself feel better about why you haven’t been spending any time with her lately. I mean come on, you’ve got to know she’s always been jealous of our relationship.”

Beca looked from Jen back to Chloe. She watched as Chloe seemed to fold in on herself, her face falling into an expression that was equal parts sadness, guilt and pain.

Beca looked back to Jen and spoke again, her voice coming out harsher and more demanding this time.

“I asked you why?”

Jen’s eyes went wide and her jaw fell slack at Beca’s tone. She had a distinct feeling she was screwed, but she knew she wasn’t going down without a fight. She took a deep breath and when she spoke her voice was soft.

“Beca please, everything I did, I did because I care about you. She is poison for you. She always has been. For three years you were in the deepest, darkest depression I’ve ever even heard of, all because of her, and then one day she randomly shows back up, and you accept her right back into your life no questions asked. It’s absolutely insane. Ok, so maybe I went about things the wrong way, but you have to believe me when I tell you that everything I did was for your own good. I knew there was no way that you’d listen to reason, being attached to her at the hip the way you were, so I did what I had to do, to put some distance between the two of you. I was hoping that once you were away from her for a little while you would be able to see reason. I love you Beca.”

“Stop saying that,” Beca said, her voice straining to sound calm, but still obviously angry.

Jenifer closed her eyes and looked down at the floor.

Chloe’s heart soared at the tone of Beca’s voice, and the hard stare she was giving Jenifer. She had believed her. No ‘are you sure?’, no questions asked at all. She took what Chloe had said and accepted it as truth without a second thought. It was all she could do to keep from smiling in relief, when she saw Beca turn back towards her.

The look on her small girlfriend’s face was enough to suck all the happiness, she had so recently been feeling, completely out of her body. Beca looked confused, hurt, and betrayed among a myriad of other emotions, some of which Chloe didn’t even have a name for.

“Why didn’t you tell me? You knew this was going on the entire time and you never said anything.” The same emotions that were playing on Beca’s face were dripping from her voice, weaving in and out, each coloring the tone a little darker than the last. The only constant, as far as Chloe could tell, was a quiet anger just beneath the surface of it all.

Chloe didn’t know what to say. She stood looking dumbly at Beca trying to find words to justify what she had done, without spilling her entire soul out in front of Jen, when she saw Beca’s expression change. She could almost see the cartoon light bulb flash on over Beca’s head as she finally fit the last puzzle piece into place. If the situation hadn’t been so dire she would have found it almost funny.

“It all makes sense now. The tension between you two, all the fights. This is what’s been bothering you this whole time, isn’t it?” Beca asked Chloe, the quiet anger now the dominant emotion in her voice. When Chloe just nodded, Beca continued. “So you’ve been shutting me out, staying constantly mad at me, and pretty much destroying our relationship. A relationship we both worked so hard to have, all because Jen was trying to break us up, and for no reason at all, you didn’t feel the need to tell me.”

Chloe was just about to respond, and try to convince Beca that she did actually have a reason, she just didn’t want to talk about it in front of Jenifer, when Jenifer spoke.

“See this is exactly what I’m talking about Beca. She’s been hiding things from you for months. She can’t be trusted.”

Beca turned to Jen with a look of pure shock on her face, just as Chloe’s anger flared to life, stronger than it had ever been before.

“You really think you’re one to talk, Frank.” Chloe spat “At least I’m not the one who has been trying to work the woman I supposedly love to death.”

“Fuck you Bales. The only reason I had to do any of this in the first place, is because of you. If you had just stayed in whatever far-off corner of the world you ran off to the first time, everything would have been fine. Beca needs to drop you like the bad habit you are.” By the time she was done Jen was red faced and yelling.

“Are you actually serious right now? If being completely and totally full of shit hasn’t started to affect your memory, you’ll remember that Beca started feeling better because I came back. I am the reason everything is fine.” Chloe yelled back at Jenifer, matching her volume and anger.

“Oh, my memory is just fine. Need I remind you that you were the reason that Beca was in a dark place to begin with. You left her, I took care of her. So why don’t you do what you’re good at and just run away.” Jen screamed back, the intensity and volume of the conversation going up with every back and forth.

“You are a fucking psycho,” Chloe said with a mean laugh. “Yeah, you took care of her for a while, but for the last year you’ve been trying to fuck her up down and sideways, in more ways than one obviously, and believe me if anyone’s leaving it’s going to be you. I’ll see to it myself if I have to.”

Beca, having finally had her fill of the darkest moments of her life being used as ammunition in this ridiculous fight, not to mention being talked about like she wasn’t in the room, stood up, slammed her hands down on the top of her desk and roared.

“ENOUGH!”

The two red-faced women who had been gradually inching closer to each other as they slung insults back and forth, took a step back and looked down. Both having enough sense to realize that the whole mess had escalated far beyond what either of them had intended it to, at least in front of Beca.

Beca took a deep breath and stood in the near deafening silence that was stretching between the three of them. She knew she had to end this, but doing that without making things worse than they already were, seemed nearly impossible.

She turned first to Jen.

“I don’t know where the fuck you got all of these ideas in your head, but Chloe is not, nor has she ever been poison to me, and she’s not going anywhere.”

Jen had the decency to at least look a little bit ashamed. Beca then turned to Chloe.

“And as for you. I have never allowed anyone to tell me who I can and can’t be friends with and I don’t plan on starting now. Yes, Jen fucked up, big, but that is between me and her.  I won’t allow you to get rid of her any more than I’d allow her to get rid of you. I love you, but I make my own decisions about who I associate with.”

When Beca finished speaking she took a deep breath, she knew this issue was far from over, there were still many long conversations to be had, but for the time being she felt good about having dealt with the most pressing issues.

Chloe however, felt a little different about the situation. As the anger washed over her anew, she started speaking before the thought of what she was saying had even really formulated in her head.

“So you’re choosing, her, over me then?” She said crossing her arms over her chest, the accusation as clear in her tone as it was in her words.

“What? No. I’m not choosing anyone, there’s no choice to even be made.” Beca responded immediately, looking as confused as she felt. “How did you even get that out of what I just said?”

Chloe was once again fighting a war within herself and currently the side telling her that there was a large amount of truth in all the things Jenifer had said, and that Beca should probably run as fast and as far as she could, was winning. She wanted to scream and throw things, and curl up in Beca’s lap and ugly cry, all at the same time, but not really being able to do any of those things at the current moment, she went with her default as of late, anger. As always it was the safest option. 

“If you don’t know, I can’t explain it.” Chloe finally snapped, before turning on her heel and walking out of Beca’s office.

Beca stood and watched Chloe leave. She had no idea what had just happened. If anyone had any right to be angry in this situation it was her, yet somehow Chloe ended up being the one walking out in a huff. ‘Nothing about this day has made any fucking sense’ she thought, before turning to Jenifer and saying.

“Cancel the rest of my day and tomorrow too.” Her tone making it quite clear that there was absolutely no room for argument.

Jen nodded without taking her eyes off whatever spot on the carpet she found so interesting, and Beca turned to walk out of her office. Planning on getting into her car and driving, with no real destination in mind, until she could make some semblance of sense out of this God-awful day.

* * *

 

Beca had driven around the city for well over three hours. She wasn’t really sure of where she had been or how many miles she had logged. She had let her knowledge of the city take over and spent most of the time on autopilot, deeply lost in thought. She still felt like she was in someone else’s story, or nightmare more accurately, but she was much calmer than she had been upon leaving her office.

She had barely registered stopping the car, when she looked up to find herself sitting in Chloe’s driveway. She wasn’t at all surprised that this is where she had ended up, but she also wasn’t sure she was ready to go in and face whatever was waiting for her.

She leaned forward and rested her head on the steering wheel. In all of her driving and thinking, she hadn’t come up with any explanation for how things had come to this. It was like all of a sudden every person who mattered in her life had gone stark raving insane, each deciding that they needed to protect her from the other’s insanity while trying, and failing, to hide their own. For a brief moment, she found herself wishing that it was her that had gone crazy and left Chloe and Jen to deal with the aftermath instead.

Beca sat up and shook her head to clear the thought. No, she wouldn’t wish the confusion and pain she was going through on anyone, much less them. With that thought she sighed heavily, unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, heading quickly for Chloe’s front door.

Once there, Beca stood, stuck in a moment of indecision. She wasn’t sure if she should use her key and just walk in, or if she should knock. Any other time there wouldn’t have been a question and she would have just walked in, but with the way Chloe had been acting lately, combined with the way she had stormed out of her office earlier, she wasn’t sure that walking in at all, much less uninvited was such a good idea.

After a few more moments of internal debate, Beca decided to just use her key. Chloe was still her girlfriend and until she was told different that was exactly how Beca was planning on treating her.

Beca unlocked the door and walked in, she was just about to call out to Chloe when she saw the redhead walk past the entryway carrying something. Beca walked further into the living room, and when she saw Chloe stuffing things into a box, said.

“What are you doing Chloe?”

Chloe screamed and spun around with a hand pressed to her chest.

“Jesus Christ Beca, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” Beca said immediately holding both hands up as if to say she meant no harm.

Chloe huffed in response and turned back to the box to finish whatever she had been doing.

Beca sighed, crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

“Chloe, will you please talk to me?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Chloe came back quickly, her tone flat.

“See, I think there is, because if there wasn’t, I really don’t think you’d be ignoring my existence while stuffing things into a box.”

Chloe stood up and turned toward Beca crossing her arms, mirroring Beca’s stance.

“No Beca.” The first signs of Chloe’s anger showing up in her voice as she said Beca’s name, “There is nothing to talk about. You’ve made your choice. It’s as simple as that.”

Beca wasn’t totally sure what Chloe was talking about, but the statement still filled her with dread.

“And what choice is that exactly?” Beca asked keeping her voice as soft as possible, trying to keep the situation from escalating.

“You chose Jen over me,” Chloe said.

“Chloe, no I didn’t. I didn’t choose anything or anyone. There wasn’t even a choice to be made. I was just trying to deal with a shitty situation that I got blindsided by.”

“Oh, so that’s my fault now too?” Chloe spat.

“What? I didn’t say that.” Beca quickly came back, sounding a little more defensive than she meant to.

Not for the first time today, Beca was completely befuddled. Chloe, her normally rational, loving, sane girlfriend was acting like a crazy person.

“You didn’t have to.” 

“Chloe you are putting words in my mouth big time. Can we please just talk about this like rational adults?”

“So, what? You’re saying I’m not being rational?” Chloe said the anger getting clearer in her voice with every word.

“Again, that’s not what I said. I just want to sit down and have a conversation instead of standing here yelling at each other.” Beca said the irritation and exasperation she was feeling sounding in her voice. She knew that getting irritated at this situation wouldn’t help matters at all, but she couldn’t help it. This had gotten way beyond ridiculous and she couldn’t help but hold on to the notion she had had earlier. That if anyone in this whole mess had the right to be mad it was her.

Chloe turned around and picked up the box, then turned back and handed it to Beca.

“What’s this?” Beca asked.

“Your things,” Chloe said flatly, recrossing her arms over her chest when Beca took the box.

Beca stared down at the box in shock and horror.

“You’re breaking up with me?” Beca stated more than asked.

“I’m not doing anything, you made the decision, I’m just following through on it,” Chloe said sounding almost petulant.

Finally, Beca had had enough. She would take a lot from Chloe, more than she would have from any other person on the planet, but she had finally been pushed past the limit she hadn’t known existed. She dropped the box and it hit the floor with a loud thud, making Chloe jump.

“You listen to me Chloe Beale, and you listen close.” Beca started, her voice a low growl. “This whole situation is fucking bullshit and you’re lying to yourself if you think you don’t know that. For months, you have been putting me through pure hell. Hiding things from me, lying to me, and punishing me for a situation that was in no way shape or form my fault. A situation that if you had just told me about, I could have put a stop to. But did you tell me? No. In fact, the only reason I do know about it is because Jen kissed me. I was completely blindsided by this, but did I get mad? Did I shut you out? No. I came here to talk about things and make them right and this is how you respond to that? I love you Chloe, I always have. You know that, but if anyone has a right to be mad today, it’s me. I’m the one who’s gotten the shit end of this stick all the way around.” As Beca finished speaking she took a step forward and gently placed her hands on Chloe’s biceps before continuing, her voice much softer. “Now please, let’s sit down and talk about this. We can make it right; I know we can.” Beca smiled softly up at Chloe.

 “No,” Chloe said her voice rough, her eyes filling with tears.

“What?” Beca asked in disbelief, her smile falling.

“I said no,” Chloe said, her voice coming out just above a whisper. She cleared her throat and quickly added, her voice coming out stronger this time. “Please leave.”

Beca pulled her hands off Chloe’s arms as if she had been burned, and took a step back, looking as shocked as she felt.

“What?” Beca asked again, she couldn’t have heard Chloe right, there was no way.

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest holding herself tightly. “I said please leave.”

Beca felt tears start to prickle at the backs of her eyes and before she could even try to stop them, they began slowly making their way down her cheeks. She looked down at the box on the floor in front of her and then back up and Chloe. She took a few deep breaths to compose herself and then spoke, cursing herself for the quiver in her voice.

“If I walk out that door. If you make me walk out that door. It’ll be the last time Chloe.” Beca said simply, hoping that the prospect of never seeing her again might shake the redhead out of whatever the hell was going on in her brain. 

Chloe simply stood, her arms wrapped around herself, tears falling steadily down her cheeks, and stared at Beca. Making it perfectly clear that she was not going to change her mind.

Beca slowly bent over, picked up the box, and made her way to the front door. Once there she looked back over her shoulder one last time, giving Chloe one more chance. When the redhead made no move to stop her, she opened the door, walked through and shut it softly behind her.

When Chloe heard the door click shut she fell to her knees and let loose the sob that she had been holding back all afternoon. She wrapped her arms more tightly around herself and felt her body shake as she cried.

After almost an hour of laying on the floor and sobbing, Chloe hauled herself up and headed for her bedroom. She got into bed, pulled the blankets up over her head, grabbed the spare pillow, that still smelled like Beca, hugged it against her chest and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

 

When Chloe had gotten home, she had been angry, so very angry. She had paced her entire house, cursing and screaming at the walls. The longer she paced the more she calmed and the more she began to think. She thought about everything: her time at Barden and with the Bellas, her time in Chicago, the way she had behaved four years ago, the way she was behaving now. Suddenly she knew what she had to do. The thought made her feel sick, but she knew it was the best thing for everyone involved.

She grabbed a box and started putting all of Beca’s things into it. As much as even the thought hurt, she knew she had to let Beca go and she had to make Beca think it was because she was still angry about the whole Jenifer issue.

Chloe knew that if she told Beca the truth she would never leave, insisting that it wasn’t true and offering to help prove it, but Chloe knew better. The plain truth was she didn’t deserve Beca. The thought that had been plaguing her for months had finally been confirmed. It was clear in everything that had happened earlier in the day, and everything that had been happening over the last few months. Jenifer, raging bitch that she was, was right about one thing, any time Chloe was around, Beca ended up hurt, whether Chloe meant to hurt her or not. So the only thing she could think to do was remove herself from Beca’s life. She knew Beca would hurt for a while, but she also knew that she was strong, eventually she’d move on, she’d be ok.

* * *

 

The next morning Jenifer sat at her desk not being quite sure how to feel. When she had initially thought about her mission and its completion she had assumed that she would feel nothing but triumph when it was over, but now that it was all said and done, she felt what could only be described as melancholy.

Yeah, she had won. Operation Tit Punch had been a rousing success, but at what cost? Chloe and Beca were on the outs, if the redhead storming out of Beca’s office the day before was any indication, which was good, but Beca was hurting, which was not good.  Beca had stood up for her to Chloe, kind of, which was, again, good, but even while she had been doing it she didn’t seem happy about it, which was not good.

Even though Jen knew Beca was in love with Chloe, her goal had never been to hurt Beca, just to simply get her to see the truth, that Chloe was not the one for her.

As if on cue, Beca walked through her pre office, immediately halting all of Jen’s musing, stopping briefly to say, "I need to see you in my office in five minutes."

"OK," Jen responded simply, she didn't like the tone in Beca's voice and hoped it was just some residual anger from the whole mess of a day yesterday, that would eventually work its way out of her system.

Five minutes later, on the dot, Jenifer walked into Beca's office deciding to go with a business as usual attitude and let Beca take it from there.

"Beca, Cher's people call..."

"You're fired," Beca said flatly, cutting Jen off.

"What?" Jenifer said in shock. Sitting down hard in the chair in front of Beca's desk.

"You're fired," Beca repeated.

"But... But... Yesterday you told Bales..."

"STOP CALLING HER THAT," Beca yelled making Jenifer flinch.

"I'm sorry," Jenifer said, sounding small. "Yesterday you told Chloe that she couldn't tell you who to be friends with and that we’d deal with it on our own. We're friends."

"What I said was that Chloe had no right to tell me who I can and can't be friends with, and that stands, but this has nothing to do with Chloe, Jenifer. This has to do with the fact that you took information that was given to you in confidence and not only shared it with someone else, but then turned around and used it against me, to break up my relationship. All for your own selfish gain. Not to mention you’ve spent the last six months working me like a dog from sun up to sun down.

You know how hard it is for me to open up to people, how long it takes and how much I have to trust them before I do. You betrayed me and not only broke that trust, you actually used it against me. I don't know about where you come from, but where I come from, that's not how friends treat each other." Beca said, her voice low and angry.

Jenifer wanted to crawl under her chair, she hadn't really thought about it like that, but hearing the words come out of Beca's mouth she realized that's exactly how it must look.

"Beca, that's not what I was doing. I was just trying to protect you." She said trying to make a case for herself.

"From what, Jen? Being happy? Having the life I've been dreaming about for nine years? Finally being with the only person that I've ever been in love with? Well then congratulations, mission accomplished." Beca said, her voice getting angrier by the second.

Jenifer was speechless, in her overprotective, jealous mind, she never even considered the fact that Beca and Chloe were actually happy together. That them not being together might be a bad thing for Beca. That by doing what she was doing she actually might be doing more harm than good.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't think..." Jenifer said, tears starting to sting the backs of her eyes.

"No, you didn't," Beca said cutting Jenifer off again. "Now if you wouldn't mind please clean out your desk. I'll walk you out so there doesn't have to be a big deal made of security coming to do it."

Jenifer's eyes widened, she knew Beca wasn't one to bluff, but this, this... She didn't even know. She slowly got up and walked to her desk with Beca right behind her.

Ten minutes later, Jenifer had all her things in a box, and was riding the elevator to the parking garage with Beca. She knew she couldn't let over four years of friendship end like this.

"I never meant to hurt you," Jenifer said hesitantly.

Beca sighed, somewhere deep down in her heart she did actually believe that, but it didn't really matter anymore. "What you did or didn't mean to do isn't the point. The fact of the matter is, you did hurt me. Worse than you can possibly even imagine."

Jenifer looked down at the box of her things that she was holding on to, as the tears she had been holding back since she was sitting in Beca's office began to fall. She watched as they splashed down onto the glass of the picture frame that sat on the very top of everything else. It was a selfie of her and Beca that they had taken the day they had gone to the mall. Jenifer was wearing a blue wig, smiling brightly, and Beca was making a mean face, while holding up the sword she had bought that day. As Jenifer looked at it, she thought she would give anything to be able to go back to that day and do things, from that moment on, over again.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened onto the staff parking garage under the building, and Jenifer and Beca walked silently to Jenifer's car. Beca held the box of Jenifer's things, as Jenifer found her keys and opened the trunk. Beca put the box in and Jenifer shut the lid. They stood there for a moment before Beca broke the silence.

"I'll need your Badge."

"Right," Jenifer said sadly as she started rummaging through her purse. Finally having found it, she handed it to Beca. Their hands brushed as Beca took the badge and Jenifer lunged forward wrapping her arms tightly around Beca's shoulders.

"I really am, so sorry, I hurt you Beca, that’s never what I meant to do," Jenifer said into Beca's hair, starting to cry steadily.

"Me too, Jen," Beca said, letting just a trace of the sadness she was feeling into her voice, as she softly placed one hand on Jenifer's back.

"I love you," Jen whispered into Beca's hair.

Beca pulled away and stepped back.

"You'll have your termination letter by the end of the week, I'll make up something that doesn't sound too bad, so it won't be hard for you to find another job."

Jenifer sniffled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Take care of yourself." Beca said as she turned to walk back to the elevators.

"You too," Jenifer called to Beca's quickly retreating back. Jenifer watched as Beca waited for the elevator and stepped through the doors as they opened. When Beca turned to face front, their eyes met, and under the bright lights of the elevator, Jenifer could see the unshed tears darkening Beca's eyes, and as the elevator doors slid shut she desperately hoped this wouldn't be the last time she ever saw her.

* * *

 

After firing Jen and a brief meeting with her new executive assistant, who had come highly recommended from the hiring agency Beca used, and had given his word that he could reallocate all the work that Jenifer had put on Beca’s desk, and also handle anything pressing that came into the office for a while. Beca decided to take some much needed time off, and wanting to get all the unpleasant things she had to do, out of the way before she left the office, shot Chloe a quick, terse, text saying she could come get her things whenever.

* * *

 

Six days into her vacation Beca was laying in her bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. She felt like her life was pretty much over. Chloe was gone, Jenifer had betrayed her and was also gone, the two most important women in her life, the ones who were always supposed to be there for her, to catch her when she fell, were tearing her apart simply by their absence.

A knock on her front door tore Beca from her thoughts, and without much thought at all, she decided to ignore it. She couldn't think of anyone who would want to see her and she definitely couldn't think of anyone she wanted to see.

The knocking stopped for a few moments and then Beca's phone chimed. She sighed heavily and reached over to her night side table, grabbing it from the charging pad. She saw Chloe's name on the screen and thought very seriously about just putting the phone back down without opening the text, but her curiosity got the better of her and she swiped the screen to bring up the message.

Please come open the door, was all it said.

"Shit," Beca said aloud to no one in particular, as she got up and made her way to the door.

Beca opened the door to an unreadable Chloe. She was dressed casually, in jeans and a white t-shirt, her red hair was pulled back in a low messy ponytail, she had a backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Hi," Beca said, sadness and hurt tingeing the word.

"Hi," Chloe said back, before quickly adding. "I just came by to pick up my things. I hope that's ok."

Beca opened the door wider and stepped aside, motioning for Chloe to come in.

"Yeah, it's fine," Beca said as Chloe walked into the entry way.

"OK," Chloe said, standing awkwardly in front of Beca.

They stood there like that for a few moments, staring at each other, both feeling like they should say something, but neither one knowing what.

Chloe was the one to finally break the silence. "I guess I'll go get started."

"Yeah, sure. No problem." Beca responded, crossing her arms over her chest, needing to close herself off as much as she could from the redhead in front of her.

Without another word, Chloe turned and walked back to Beca's bedroom to start packing her things.

Beca walked into her living room, sat down on the couch and waited.

Twenty minutes later Chloe walked back out into the living room, the backpack she had carried in with her, now stuffed to capacity.

"Ok, I think I got everything."

"Here are a few more things that I already packed up this week," Beca said grabbing the box off the coffee table and taking it to Chloe. "I can carry it down for you if you want." Beca finished.

Chloe laced her arms through the straps of the backpack, settling it on her back, before reaching out for the box Beca was holding. "No, that's ok, I can take it."

Beca handed the box over to Chloe, who immediately looked down into it. Seeing what was on top of everything, the unreadable expression on her face quickly dissolved into one of anguish. She raised her eyes to look at the mantelpiece for confirmation. Where there once sat two stone lions and so many pictures of the two of them and a few of the Bellas as a group, now sat three shiny Grammy awards. Chloe opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it and swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears that were suddenly stinging the backs of her eyes and threatening to break her voice from being noticed.

"You're giving me the stone lions?" She said finally, the tears, despite her best efforts, being obvious in her voice.

"I don't want them anymore," Beca said flatly, looking down at her bare feet. She heard Chloe sniffle and added, softening her voice just a touch "They were always for you anyway."

"Becs," Chloe said, her voice shaky and full of so many emotions.

"No, Chloe." Beca said trying to keep her own emotions out of her voice, "You lied to me for months and when I came to you asking you to tell me what was wrong, you shut me out. Then when you finally blindsided me with the truth, you immediately accused me of taking Jen’s side over yours and walked out without even giving me half a second to process things. On top of all that, if that wasn’t bad enough, when I came to you to make it right, which I shouldn’t have even had to do, you basically told me that because I didn’t drop my best friend immediately, we were done.” Beca took a deep breath and after a moment of trying to compose herself, continued. “I told you that night that if you made me walk out that door, that it would be the last time. I’m sorry Chloe, but I just can’t take the games anymore.  I held onto the memory of you for three years, because I thought that my love for you was strong enough to bring me, to bring us, through anything. In the depths of my soul I never truly gave up hope that you would come back to me, but now I’m starting to wonder if I should have.”

Chloe closed her eyes and nodded, a steady stream of tears now slipping from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks, she took a few deep breaths. When she thought she was settled enough for her voice to come out somewhat even, she said, simply. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Beca came back quickly.

Chloe opened her eyes, nodded once and turned to walk to the door. Beca followed her and pulled the door open. Chloe stepped through, turned around and stood for a moment, looking at Beca.

Beca looked back at Chloe trying to steel herself for the words she knew she had to say. She was done, there was no doubt in her mind about that, but that didn't mean it wasn't still killing her. She took a deep breath and spoke, her voice coming out stronger than she expected it to, resonating clearly in her entryway.

"Goodbye, Chloe."

Chloe visibly flinched at the words, but quickly responded, her voice breaking as she did.

"Goodbye, Beca."

Beca took one last look at Chloe, strands of her red hair had fallen out of her ponytail and were framing her face, her eyes were red-rimmed and the new tears that weren’t yet running down her cheeks were shining in her eyes, making them a brighter blue than Beca could ever remember seeing them. Beca suddenly thought, as she started to close the door, that this image was not the one she wanted as the last memory she had of Chloe, but she knew it couldn't be helped. She had no choice, this was the way things had to be, this was truly the end. She closed her eyes as the latch clicked and leaned forward putting her forehead against the closed door. She could still feel Chloe on the other side, she didn't know how, but she could.

She quickly stood upright and walked to her bedroom. Needing to put as much distance between herself, and the redhead still standing on the other side of the door, as possible.

* * *

 

Once Beca was sure that Chloe was no longer on the other side of the door she had grabbed her keys and headed out of the house, intent on driving, once again, with no real destination in mind. She didn’t really care where she went or where she ended up, she just knew she had to get out of her house. Even though she had done her best to pack everything that had anything at all to do with Chloe, into the box she had given her, there were still so many reminders. Everywhere she looked memories of her and Chloe played in her mind like little mini movies. She just had to get away.

It wasn’t long into the drive that Beca found herself getting off the highway. Taking the exit to her favorite beach. It was a cold gray day and she knew she would have the area mostly, if not all, to herself. Once she was parked, she got out of her car and walked along the beach. After a fairly short walk, she found a large rock, pulled herself up onto it and sat looking out over the ocean.

Silence and stillness were two things that Beca had never been very comfortable with, so as the still, damp, cool air started to seem like it was pressing in on her, she used the one tactic she had to fight it. She began to sing.

The sky is grey

The sand is grey

And the ocean is grey

And I feel right at home

In this stunning monochrome

Alone in my way

 

I smoke and I drink

And every time I blink

I have a tiny dream

But as bad as I am

I'm proud of the fact

That I'm worse than I seem

 

What kind of paradise

Am I looking for?

I've got everything I want

And still I want more

Maybe some tiny shiny key

Will wash up on the shore

 

You walk through my walls

Like a ghost on TV

You penetrate me

And my little pink heart

Is on its little brown raft

Floating out to sea

 

And what can I say

But I'm wired this way

And you're wired to me

And what can I do

But wallow in you

Unintentionally

 

What kind of paradise

Am I looking for?

I've got everything I want

And still I want more

Maybe some tiny shiny key

Will wash up on the shore

 

Regretfully

I guess I've got three

Simple things to say

Why me?

Why this now?

Why this way?

 

With overtones ringing

And undertows

Pulling away

Under a sky that is grey

On sand that is grey

By an ocean that's grey

 

And what kind of paradise

Am I looking for?

I've got everything I want

And still I want more

Maybe some tiny shiny key

Will wash up on the shore

 

The last notes of her soft, broken voice, floated away from her on the heavy ocean breeze. She felt like she should be crying, sobbing actually, but all she really felt was empty. Not the same emptiness that she had felt for the three years Chloe was gone, no, that was a numbness. She simply had not allowed herself to feel, but this, this emptiness was not borne of lack of feeling. No, this emptiness was lack of hope. Chloe was gone, Jenifer was gone, and all the hope that she had held onto for so long was gone with them. There was simply nothing left for her to aspire to, nothing to strive for, nothing to make the monotony of everyday life worthwhile.

 Like Icarus she had unknowingly flown too close to the sun and had crashed back down to earth, harder than she could have ever imagined possible. Leaving all that she had ever wanted back up in the clouds, completely unattainable to her now.

She looked up to the sky, squinting against the glare of the clouds. She felt like she should be praying, for what or to who she didn't know, but what she did know, was she didn't think she could do this all on her own. The first time she lost Chloe, it had nearly killed her, and that had been with Jen there to help her through it. Now, now she was totally alone. No Chloe, no Jen, no one.

Suddenly Beca let out a bark of laughter. 'If freshmen Beca could see me now, sitting here lamenting my lack of companionship, she'd punch me in the face' she thought.

It was a small thought, a small laugh. Just a tiny ray of sunshine breaking through the black of the storm, but it was enough to let her know, that while it would always hurt, someway, somehow, no matter how long it took, she'd find a way be ok.

* * *

 

Chloe sat in her living room staring at the box that was sitting next to her on the couch. She had been sitting there for an hour just looking at it, looking at how the edges were slightly frayed, the cardboard starting to peel in places. Her eyes wandered over her name written on the side in Beca's loopy handwriting. She couldn't bring herself to look through it. Every time she tried to make a move to grab it, her hand would stop as if it was being repelled by some unseen force, and almost of its own accord, it would fall back to her lap and she would go back to staring.

"Come on Beale, Soldier up." She said out loud to herself as she reached forward and finally grabbed the edge of the box pulling it up against her leg.

She reached in and grabbed the stone lions first, she held them in her lap and looked at them for a long time. These silly stone lions had been the cornerstone in her idea of what her life would be for so long. She set them aside, she couldn't think like that anymore, Beca wasn't hers, she never would be again. Chloe had to get used to that idea.

Chloe reached into the box and pulled out the next thing she touched. It was a t-shirt that Beca had stolen from her during her junior year, she knew it had been Beca's favorite sleep shirt for years. Chloe held the shirt to her face. The last time she had seen it Beca had been wearing it and they had been cuddled up in bed, Chloe's head on Beca's chest, listening to her steady heartbeat. Chloe took a deep breath, the shirt still smelled like Beca. As she pulled the shirt away from her face she saw wet spots, she hadn't realized she was crying. She set the shirt on top of the stone lions, wiped her eyes, and reached back in the box.

There were tons of pictures of her and Beca, some were framed, some weren't. They chronicled their entire time together. There were reluctant selfies from Beca's freshmen year, most of which Beca was frowning in. Chloe smiled against her tears as she looked at the pictures. Each one triggering a memory of the two of them. As she pulled each picture from the box, she watched the photographic evidence of the progression of their relationship. She compared the frowning distant Beca of freshman year, to the smiling open Beca of senior year, to the Beca from just a few months ago, who sat on the very couch Chloe was sitting on now, with Zay in her lap pulled tight to her chest, beaming at the camera like she had just been handed the keys to the entire world. Chloe pulled the last picture out of the box, she recognized it immediately, it was the selfie of her and Beca in Copenhagen, the one that had sat on Beca's desk for the last four years.

Chloe felt something inside of her break and she began to sob violently as she held the picture. This picture was the one that had sat on Beca's desk through everything that they had been through. Through the three years of hell that Beca had lived, that Chloe had put her through, this picture had been there, standing it's ground as a promise that things could get better, that nothing was over, and now Beca had let it go. Chloe knew that along with it, came any hope Beca had for the two of them. This really was it. Nine years gone, they were over.

Chloe wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there sobbing and staring at the picture in her hands, she had gotten lost in her head, so deep in her thoughts, that she couldn't even see the picture her eyes were trained on anymore. As she came back to the present and focused her eyes, she suddenly found herself repulsed by the picture and the hope it stood for.

"NO!" Chloe screamed through her tears as she stood and hurled the picture across the room. It connected with the stone of her fireplace and she heard the glass covering the picture crack and tinkle as it fell down the stone in tiny shards. She picked up each of the other pictures and threw them as well, relishing in the cracking sound they made as each one of them made contact with the fireplace. Finally, she picked up both of the stone lions, she looked at them for a brief moment before hurling them as well. She watched as they smashed against the fireplace, the cornerstones of her ideal life shattering into chunks, their forms lost in the pile of debris that made up all the hopes and dreams of the last nine years. Chloe picked up the box that everything had come from and threw that too.

As she watched the box fly across the room, she saw something fall out. After a moment, she walked over and picked it up, and then walked back to sit on the couch. She looked at what was in her hands, it was a plain manila envelope. She turned it over and saw her address in Chicago written on the front in Beca's loopy handwriting, and over that she saw return to sender in her own handwriting. She remembered this package. Beca had sent it to her a few months after she had gone back to Chicago. When she gotten it she had no desire to know what was in it, she had no desire to hear anything Beca had to say. 'How the tables have turned?' She thought as she ripped the top of the envelope open. She upended the envelope and a small flash drive fell out into her hand, it was simply labeled "Chloe". She knew it was a mix and set it aside. She knew, as bad an idea as it was, she'd listen to it later. She looked in the envelope and pulled out the folded paper she saw there. Chloe opened it and saw, once again, Beca's loopy handwriting and began to read.

Chloe, 

I hope this letter finds you well. You haven't answered any of my texts or emails or calls, so this is my last effort to try and contact you. Not that I blame you for ignoring me, mind you. I know why you left. I know why you are angry at me. I know why you built the defenses. I understand completely and you are right. I was a coward. I never told you how I felt because I thought if I did I would lose you, which I guess is what ended up happening anyway. 

So if this is possibly the last time I will ever be able to tell you anything, there are a few things I need to get off my chest. First of all, I am in love with you. I know I said that in the airport but I needed to say it again. I am in love with you, and I have been since pretty much the day I met you, even though it took me a little bit longer than that to realize it. 

You were the first person in a very long time to get inside my walls. You came right in, made yourself comfy, and forced me to open up, to talk to you, to show you the real me, and for the first time in... well probably ever, I didn't mind at all. I mean at first I did, at least, I told myself I did, actually, the truth is I never did, not really.

See when I was in middle school I made a list of rules for myself on dealing with other people, you have always been the exception to every one of those rules. Where other people have always made me anxious and uncomfortable, you gave me peace of mind. You made me comfortable even while you were pulling me so far out of my comfort zone that I couldn't even see it. 

I joined the Bella's because of you. I'm sure you've figured that out by now but I just wanted to tell you. I wanted to skip that audition so bad, to just walk away and never think about it again, but every time I even considered it, I saw your eyes staring directly at me and heard you saying 'Help us make our dreams a reality?' and I knew, despite all my better judgment, that I had to do everything I could to get into that group, to be close to you. I couldn't let you go, even then, even before I knew all the wonderful things I know about you now. 

Everything in my life from the day I met you has been about you. Why do you think my company is called Red Industries? Why do you think I'm DJ Blue? Just in case you really don't know, I'll tell you. When I was thinking of names I had just found out that you couldn't come down to see me for spring break, and you were all I could think of. How much I missed you. How much I wanted to see you, your smile, your red hair, your blue eyes. That was it. For five and a half years you had invaded every second of my life, every fiber of my being. It only made sense to name my biggest achievement, the culmination of, almost, every single one of my dreams after you. After opening my label, you are the only dream I have that remains unfulfilled. You are also the biggest and brightest of all my dreams, of any dream I've ever had really. 

I used to watch you during practices. Not in a creepy or pervy kind of way, but I would just watch you be you. How you dealt with Aubrey that first year, always with grace and kindness, even when she was making your life miserable. I saw how when you found out you had nodes, even though I'm sure you felt like your life was pretty much over, you stayed strong, you kept persevering, always letting us know that you were fine, that we would be fine. I realize now that you didn't always actually feel that way, even when you were actively telling us you did. Later on, I would watch how you would deal with all of the girls. You always lead with your heart. Even when you would have to get stern, or when you were angry, you always did it from a place of love. There was never any doubt in any of the Bella's minds that you loved them, even when you were yelling at them. 

I often wondered how you did that. How you let yourself be so vulnerable and so open and how you let your feelings show so easily. It took me quite a while, but I finally realized that that is just a part of you, it's just who you are, and while I'll never understand it, it's one of the things I love most about you. There are no words to tell you how it kills me, that it's because of me that you're not comfortable doing that anymore. That I broke so fundamental a part of you that you aren't able to do something that is so much a part of your personality, so much of who you are. I love you Chloe and even if you never want to see me again please don't let this, don't let me, take that part of you away. 

Your strength has always been your heart, your emotional vulnerability, your love for life and everybody you know. That is truly the reason I never told you how I felt. I knew your heart, the purity of it and I didn't see how there was any possible way that someone like you could ever have feelings for someone like me. I honestly just felt lucky that you kept me around at all. I thought that if I told you how I felt that I would lose you, that you would finally realize I wasn't worth all the effort that being near me takes, and you would walk away. I thought that being your friend was the only way I would get to be close to you, to keep the light that is you in my life.  I knew you loved me, but I really thought it was just as a friend.

Your love, even as much as I misinterpreted it, was what got me through the Bella's, through college, through opening my label and even if all of this falls on deaf ears and I never see you again, the memory of your love will be what gets me through the rest of my life. 

So I guess this is the point in the letter where I have to get around to why I'm really writing to you. Please, Chloe, don't leave me. I'm begging you, I can't do this without you. You are my everything. Everything that has ever been good or right or nice in my world is you or somehow relates back to you. You are the only person who has ever taken the time to break down my defenses and see the real me. You are the only person who has ever stuck around long enough to get to know me the way you do. The way only you can. If you'll just come back to me, call me, text me, anything, I promise I will never hide anything from you ever again. I will make sure that you see yourself the way I do. That you see the strength, and the beauty within you, that is so obvious to everyone around you. I will make sure you know all the time that you are the center of my world, that you are everything I have ever needed or will ever need. I will make sure that you feel, every day, like the most loved person in the universe, because as long as I'm alive, you will be. 

I guess that's pretty much all I have to say other than, I'll never have words to tell you how sorry I am for everything, and I hope that, at least, someday you'll be able to forgive me. 

I love you, Chloe, and I always have.

Beca

Chloe sat the letter down on the couch next to her and stared blankly at the pile of rubble laying in front of her fireplace. She thought about Beca's words and about how almost every one of them, she could turn right back around and say to Beca now. How could she have hurt this person, who meant the world to her, so badly all those years ago? What had gone so wrong that they were both hurting so badly now?

With that thought, Chloe dropped her head into her hands and began to cry, not for the first or last time of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Let me know, but please be gentle.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Wow the response to that last chapter was absolutely INSANE! I Thank you all so much! 
> 
> Ok so all I have to say about this chapter is that you have all always had faith in me to do right by our girls. I just ask that you continue to keep that faith. (Not cryptic at all, I know.) 
> 
> All songs used will be credited and named at the end of the chapter. 
> 
> Submitted for your approval…
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own PP 1, 2, any of the characters therein, any of the songs used or any trademarked or copyrighted material mentioned.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Jenifer flinched at the all too familiar voice and sighed, turning to face the redhead she knew was standing behind her.

"I was hoping to see Beca here." Beca’s former assistant answered simply, keeping her tone even.

"What? Not seeing enough of her at the office?" Chloe asked with venom dripping from her words.

"Yeah see, I don't spend much time there since she fired me." Jenifer snapped angrily.

"What?" Chloe asked, her eyes wide in shock.

Jenifer took a deep breath and softened her tone. "You didn't know?" She stated more than asked.

Chloe moved to sit on the bar stool next to Jenifer with a motion that could only be described as tired, and braced her elbows on the bar. 

"We haven't really talked much since we broke up." Chloe said sadly.

Jenifer looked down into the Jack and Coke sitting in front of her, that she had been nursing for the better part of an hour. "I'm sorry." She finally said.

Chloe scoffed in disbelief, before adding a sarcastic "Right."

Jenifer sighed again, part of her wanted to get mad that Chloe was questioning her sincerity, but the other part of her, the one that was actually in the majority, understood completely.

"No, Chloe. I'm serious. I really am sorry. I never meant to hurt Beca, or you, really. I just got so far in my own head that I got lost. I was so blinded by what I thought was going on, I couldn't see the reality. I fucked up and I'm sorry."

Chloe sat looking at Jenifer for a long moment, she wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh, cry, or punch Jenifer in the face, just for good measure. Finally, deciding on none of the above, she took a deep breath, released it and said, "Well I'm not saying I forgive you, but I guess I do understand, in a way."

Jenifer offered a small smile and then looked back to her drink.

The silence stretched between them for a few moments before Jenifer, not being able to deal with the quiet, finally spoke. "So what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I work here." Chloe said, being startled out of her own thoughts.

"You quit Musicality to bartend?" Jenifer asked incredulously.

Chloe chuckled. "No, I didn't quit Musicality and I don't tend bar. I have a show here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I sing, remember."

"Oh yeah, that's right. You were in the Bella's with Beca."

Chloe sighed at the reminder of the little DJ and said sadly. "Yeah."

Jenifer, seeing Chloe's face fall, quickly added. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up..."

"No, It's fine." Chloe said cutting Jenifer off. "It's not like she's ever far from my thoughts anyway."

"I understand that." Jenifer said, her voice coming out smaller than she had intended, after a moment she added. "I didn't deserve the trust she put in me."

“No, you didn’t,” Chloe said softly “but neither did I.” As angry as Chloe had been, and mostly still was, with Jenifer, she was never one to kick someone when they were down. She wasn’t going to lie, but she also wasn’t going to ignore her own faults. Her and Beca’s break up had been much more about her and her lack of communication than it ever had been about Jenifer, she knew that now. As much as she still felt like she didn’t, and never could, deserve the blessing that was Beca Mitchell; she knew that she should have talked to Beca instead of simply pushing her away. It was a realization that had haunted her every moment since she had made it. 

“We’re idiots.” Jenifer said simply.

Chloe laughed darkly. “Yeah we are.”

They sat for another quiet moment until Jenifer, once again, broke the silence.

“What would you say if I told you I think I know a way we can see Beca again?”

Chloe’s eyes widened, “I’d say I think you’re insane, and I seriously doubt she wants to see either of us right now… or ever again, honestly.”

“But would you go along with it?” Jenifer asked, not believing for a hot second that Chloe would pass up the chance to see Beca. No matter how bad of an idea it may or may not be.

Chloe smiled a bright smile, the brightest that had been on her face in a long time, and quickly responded.

“What are you thinking Frank?”

Jenifer laughed and said “Ok Bales, here’s the plan.

* * *

 

Beca sat in her office staring off into space. It had been six weeks and four days, not that she was counting, since the big fight and she couldn’t help the suspicion that she should be feeling at least a tiny bit better by now. She also couldn’t help the sinking feeling she got every time she realized that she wasn’t.

Beca had done her very best to remove every trace of Chloe from her life. Every memento, every gift, every picture, except for a couple of her and Zay that she just couldn’t bring herself to part with and kept in a lock box for when it didn’t hurt quite so bad to look at them, but even with all the physical reminders gone, Chloe was still everywhere. Every ginger that walked by on the street was Chloe. Every song she heard on the radio reminded her of Chloe. Every time anything of note happened, her first thought was always ‘I can’t wait to tell Chloe about this’.

Beca remembered a movie that Chloe had made her watch once, where doctors could go into your mind and scientifically remove the memories of an event or a person. Even though the whole movie was about the ineffectiveness of something like that, a small part of her still wished that there was a real place that could do it. Maybe then she would be able to function like a normal person and not spend almost every waking minute thinking about her lost love, that could never be again.

“Ms. Mitchell?”

Beca jerked her head up to see her new assistant, Corbin, standing in the doorway of her office.

“Hey Corbin, and please, call me Beca.” She said with a smile, before quickly adding “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to talk to you about something I found on the schedule if you have a few minutes.”

Corbin had been an absolute blessing since he had started as Beca’s new assistant. He had picked up on Jen’s old job immediately and had been instrumental in sorting out the mess that Jen had made of Beca’s job. Quickly reallocating all the extra work back to the proper departments. Beca’s work load had dropped by at least eighty percent, and even though she sometimes wished she was busier, just to give her mind something to focus on, it was nice not working all the time.

“Yeah, I’m pretty free right now. What’s going on?” Beca responded.

“Well there is a bimonthly meeting at a place called Pete’s, next week, that appears to be something that your old assistant used to handle. The problem is I don’t have any clue what it is or why there needs to be a meeting about it. In all the notes I found in the computer on this job, that was never mentioned.”

“Oh right. I had actually forgotten about that. I own a little bar, just down the road from here. Red Industries really doesn’t have anything to do with the running of it, but we do pay all the bills. So that meeting is just to go over the budget and make any necessary adjustments.” Beca explained.

“Oh, ok. Do you want me to go ahead and take care of it then?” Corbin asked, the look on his face saying that he really hoped the answer was no.

Beca was impressed by her new assistant’s willingness to go into an unfamiliar business and deal with a meeting that he had no idea how to handle, even though he clearly didn’t want to. She had genuinely liked the young man from the beginning and seemed to be growing fonder of him every day.

“No that’s ok, you are doing such a fantastic job with everything else, I’ll take this one.”

Corbin couldn’t quite hide his sigh of relief and Beca smiled at him. She was expecting him to leave her office, as he seemed to have said what he came in to say, but the silence between them grew as he continued to stand. Finally, he spoke.

“Beca can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” Beca responded

“Now, please tell me if I’m over stepping my bounds here, but are you seeing anybody?”

Beca was taken aback by the question. It almost sounded like he was coming on to her, and while Beca did think he was a very handsome young man, he was exactly that. A man.

“Uh. No. Not really.” Beca replied hesitantly.

Corbin smiled. “Well I have this friend, she’s kind of a leggy, bubbly, ginger type.”

Beca’s eyes went wide in shock. ‘Not today, lady fate.’ She thought, before speaking.

“If you’re about to tell me her name is Chloe, I swear to God I’m going to jump out this window.” She said motioning over her shoulder at the large window behind her.

Corbin’s face twisted in confusion for a moment before he spoke, obviously trying to figure out exactly how serious his new boss was, “No, it’s Sam. Why?”

 “No reason.” Beca sighed in relief, and then quickly added. “Thank you so much, but I’m not really looking to hit the dating scene yet. I just got out of a complicated relationship a few weeks ago.”

“Ah, ok.” Corbin said with a smile “I just thought you two might like each other so I wanted to check.”

Beca returned his smile as he got up to leave her office. He stopped just before he walked out the door, turned and said “Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will, thanks.” Beca shot back quickly, and with one last quick smile Corbin was out the door.

* * *

 

A week later Beca was making the short walk from her office to Pete’s. She had gone over the little bit of information she had been able to find in the system, about the budget that the company maintained for the place, and she was confident that she could handle this meeting.

Finally, at the front door Beca took a deep breath and walked in.  She could do this, she knew she could, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t scared. She had let Jen handle so much during her dark time, that she had basically had to learn her whole business all over again, in the last year, and even when she was relearning everything, Jen was still always there to remind her of something she had forgotten or coach her through. Even though she had been a shitty friend, Jen had always been there for her as far as work was concerned. This was Beca’s first real business related activity, since Jen had been gone.

Beca was half way through her own internal pep-talk, when she realized that the whole bar was dark and there didn’t seem to be anyone there. In all her years going to Pete’s she had never seen it empty like this. It was almost eerie.

Beca turned her wrist up and squinted as her apple watch flared to life, blindingly bright in the darkness of the bar. It was only 7:15, there was no way the bar should be closed, she thought.

“Hello?” She called into the darkness, adding quickly “Anyone here?” 

Beca heard something that sounded like the shuffling of feet and looked toward the sound, just as a spotlight was shone on the stage. She shut her eyes tight, for just a moment, against the bright light. As she slowly opened them, she saw that the stage was empty except for a stool that sat in the middle of the pool of light.

 Just as suddenly as the spot light had come on, music started to play through the bar’s sound system. It was a soft guitar accompaniment that Beca recognized instantly. It was the acoustic mix she had made and sent to Chloe in Chicago. She sighed, crossed her arms over her chest, and was not even a little bit surprised when Chloe stepped into the spot light and began to sing.

Remember those walls I built?

Well now they're tumbling down

they didn't even put up a fight

They didn't even make a sound

I found a way to let you in

But you never really had a doubt

 

We'd Talk about our future

Like we had a clue

Never planned that one day

I'd be losing you

 

It's like I've been awakened

Every rule I had you're breakin'

It's the risk that I'm taking

 

In another life

I would be your girl

We'd keep all our promises

Be us against the world

 

Everywhere I'm looking now

I'm surrounded by your face

It's time to face the music

But I know you're my saving grace

 

All this money can't buy me a time machine

Can't replace you with a million rings

I should've told you what you meant to me

'Cause now I pay the price

 

You hit me like a ray of sun

Burning through my darkest night

You're the only one that I want

Think I'm addicted to your light

I swore I'd never fall again

 

In another life

I would be your girl

We'd keep all our promises

Be us against the world

 

It did however greatly surprise Beca when Jen stepped out of the darkness that was the rest of the stage, stepped up to stand right beside Chloe and began to sing.

 

I was June and you were my Johnny Cash

Never one without the other, we made a pact

Sometimes when I miss you

I put those records on

 

It's like I've been awakened

Every rule I had you're breakin'

It's the risk that I'm taking

 

In another life

I would make you stay

So I don't have to say

You were the one that got away

 

As the song ended and the house lights came up, Chloe lost all hope of a tearfully happy reunion when she got her first good look at Beca. Her arms were crossed and she looked angry and hurt. Chloe could just make out the tear tracks that stood out a slightly brighter white against her former girlfriend’s already fair skin.

Chloe seemed to shrink as she stepped down off the stage and made her way over to Beca. When she was standing close, but not in the little DJ’s bubble, she stopped and offered a small smile.

Beca kept her face stone and spoke.

“So what’s all this about?”

Chloe seemed to shrink in on herself even more at Beca’s harsh tone.

“I… well, uh… we actually… wanted to say… we’re sorry.” Chloe finished, feeling lame for not being able to come up with something better.

“You’re sorry?” Beca asked, darting her eyes back and forth between Chloe and Jen, who was still standing on the stage, but now looking a lot smaller than she had when they had been singing. Chloe and Jen both nodded.

“Well isn’t that nice. I guess we can go back to being one big happy freakin’ family now that you’re sorry, can’t we?”

Jen and Chloe both looked down, seeming to be studying intensely interesting spots on the floor.

Beca continued. “It’s always games with you two. You know in the last six weeks, I didn’t change my number, or move, or quit my job. You both knew where to find me and how to contact me if you wanted to talk, but did you? No. You waited until now, when you,” Beca pointed at Jen “knew I would be here and sang me a song that I recorded during one of the darkest times of my entire life. Which as nice of a gesture as it is and as well as it was done, doesn’t change a damn thing. You betrayed me.” Beca said with another point at Jen. “and you,” pointing at Chloe this time. “left me, even when I was willing to see past all of the shit you helped put me through for months, and instead of coming to me, sitting down and telling me, oh I dunno… Why, maybe. You sing me a song and think that’s just going to make things ok? Think again.”

“Beca…” Chloe said softly, trying to keep her voice from breaking. 

“No Chloe, not this time.” Beca said as she turned her back on the two women and walked to the front door. When she reached it, she stopped for a moment and said over her shoulder, “I’m sorry.” Before walking out into the cool night.

* * *

 

Beca had caught an Uber home and somehow managed to keep the tears at bay until she made it through her front door. As soon as the door latch clicked though, all bets were off. She pressed her back into the door and slid down to the floor, letting out the sob that had been building since she had walked out of Pete’s. She wrapped her arms around her body and felt herself shake a little harder with every breath.

‘Why did she have to come back? Why did she have to sing to me? Why did she have to use that mix?’  Beca thought. It had been hard enough on her trying to get over the redhead without having to see her or hear her voice, but now it just felt like someone had ripped the scab off a wound.

Beca wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting on the floor crying, but as her tears started to ebb, she knew she had to do something. She had had her moment, but it was time to pull it together, get up and get her mind on something else.

She grabbed the door handle and pulled herself up, went to her bedroom, pulled on her comfiest pair of sweats and an oversized t-shirt, made her way to the kitchen and then the living room to finish off the quart of ice cream that had been in her freezer while watching trashy reality TV.

* * *

 

Three hours later, Beca was on her fourth DVR-ed episode of America’s Next Top Model, and aside from getting a bit sniffley when one of the models who looked strikingly similar to Chloe was eliminated, she was feeling much better.

She had just paused the show to go see if there was anything else to snack on in her kitchen when she heard a knock at her door. She looked at the door in confusion and then at her watch. It was after eleven and she wasn’t expecting anyone.

She hesitantly walked to her front door and opened it slightly, peeking around it to see who could possibly be on the other side. Her heart sank when she was met with red rimmed, crystal clear blue eyes.  She pulled the door the rest of the way open and stood with her arms crossed.

“Hi.” Chloe said simply her voice gravelly from tears.

“Hi.” Beca responded while cringing inwardly. That voice, was the one that could get her to do anything, anything at all to take the sound of the tears away.

“Can I come in?” Chloe asked gently. She knew that Beca had every right to deny her request.

Beca sighed heavily, she knew she should say no, turn the redhead and her tear stained cheeks and voice away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Sure.” was all she said in reply, stepping out of the doorway and then closing the door behind Chloe.

Chloe walked into the living room and sat down on one end of the couch. Beca followed her and sat on the opposite end, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them.

The silence grew awkward as it stretched between them. When she couldn’t take it anymore, Beca finally spoke.

“So are you and Jen like besties now or something?” As soon as it was out of her mouth Beca wanted to hit herself in the head, she sounded petulant and passive aggressive and if the look on Chloe’s face was anything to go by, the tone did not go unnoticed.

“Um, no.” Chloe started, trying to ignore Beca’s tone, “We just happened to both be at Pete’s one night and got to talking and realized we both wanted the same thing, and Jen thought she had a way we might be able to get it.”

“What did you want?” Beca asked.

“You back in our lives.” Chloe said simply.

“I am not a prize to be won, or an object to be coveted.” Beca said, immediately getting angry.

“That’s not what I meant. Beca please…” Chloe stopped short and looked at Beca with an almost pleading expression.

Beca sighed again, this conversation was getting out of hand, as were her emotions, and the sooner it was all over with, the better, as far as she was concerned. She decided to go with the direct approach.

“Why are you here Chloe?”

It was now Chloe’s turn to sigh. “Earlier you said that I should have just come and talk to you. You were absolutely right, and that’s what I’m here to do.”

“Chloe…”

“No, please Beca, I’ve got some things that I need to tell you, and even if it makes no difference at all, even if you still hate me after I’ve said it, I need to get it off my chest.”

Beca wanted to scream at Chloe, shake her and tell her there was no way she could ever hate her, but she knew that would get them nowhere productive, so she simply nodded her consent and waited for Chloe to continue.

“When I asked you to leave, when you came over after the fight, it had nothing to do with Jen. I mean I know that’s what I blamed it on, and I was mad about it at first, but after I thought about it for a while I understood why you handled it the way you did. I lied because I knew that if I told you the real reason, that you would never leave, that you would just keep trying to prove to me that it wasn’t true, when I knew it was.” Chloe paused, squeezed her eyes shut, filled her lungs to capacity, and blurted the rest out in one breath. “I don’t deserve you and I never have. I don’t deserve the love or the time and attention you gave me. Every time I’ve come into your life, I’ve hurt you or at least been the cause of your hurting and I thought it was time that you stopped wasting the best years of your life on me. I pushed you away because I knew you could do better and even though I still believe that, I realize now I should have talked to you instead of just pushing you away.” 

When Chloe finally looked up at Beca, she was met with wide steel blue eyes and a slack jaw. They sat there for a moment just staring at each other, before Beca exploded into motion, leaping up off the couch, making Chloe jump as she did.

“Jesus Christ Chloe! How could you fucking think that?” Beca almost shouted as she paced her living room alternating between crossing her arms over her chest and running her hands through her messy hair.

“Because it’s true.” Chloe said softly, obviously trying to hold back tears.

“No Chloe it is not. It most fucking certainly is not. You were all I had ever wanted. Sure, you fucked up along the way, but so did I. All these things you blame yourself for, every single damn one of them, I played a part in. Sure, you over reacted four years ago. Should you have gotten so involved in that stupid group? No. Should you have built all the walls? No. Should you have left and stayed away for three years? Definitely not. But I should have told you how I felt before losing you ever even became a possibility, not at the very last second before I did actually lose you. Were you wrong to hide things from me and basically lie to me these last few months? Yeah you were, but that doesn’t mean I was totally in the right. I should have opened my eyes and seen what was going on. I mean the tension between you and Jen was palpable, I should have payed attention and found out why. I should have pulled my head out of my ass and stood up to Jen and made the time for you that you needed me to. So have you fucked up? Yeah, you have, but so have I. That doesn’t make either one of us more or less deserving than the other. It just means we’re both humans.”

Having said her piece Beca walked back and fell tiredly onto the couch.

“Stupid humans.” Chloe said, the tears that had started falling while Beca was talking, cracking her voice.

Beca chuckled darkly. “Yeah, stupid humans.”

They fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments, which Chloe eventually broke. 

“So where do we go from here?”

Beca leaned forward and dropped her head into her hands. She scrubbed her face, pushed her hair back and looked down at the floor. She really didn’t want to have this conversation, especially right now, but she knew it was necessary.

“Nowhere. There is no we, Chloe.” Beca finally said, the softness of her voice contradicting the harshness of her words. She heard Chloe choke back a sob and felt the tremble of the redhead’s body through the couch cushions, as she tried to keep all her emotions from pouring out.

Beca wanted, almost more than anything, to reach over and pull Chloe into her lap and hold her tight against her chest, stroke her hair and quiet her crying, tell her everything would be ok, but Beca wouldn’t lie to her. Everything was very far from ok and even the touch itself would be a lie. It would be a promise of things that were not to come.

“I’m sorry.” Beca said finally, her own emotion breaking her voice.

They sat there like that for a long moment, Beca with her head in her hands, elbows braced on her thighs, and Chloe on the other side of the couch quietly sobbing and holding herself, both feeling more lost and alone than either had in a very long time.

As Chloe’s sobs finally started to quiet into soft sniffles, Beca heard a barely audible sound that she couldn’t quite place. She listened harder as the sound started to get louder and she was finally able to place it. Chloe was humming. As Beca listened, comforted and yet still breaking at the sound, the hums slowly started to become words, and not more than a moment later Chloe was singing.

How do I make you wanna stay?  
Hate sleeping on my own, missing the way you taste  
Now I'm fucked up and I miss you  
Never be like you  
Stop looking at me with those eyes  
Like I could disappear and you wouldn't care why  
Now I'm fucked up and I'm missing you  
Never be like you

I'm only human, can't you see?  
I made, I made a mistake  
Please just look me in my face  
Tell me everything's okay  
'Cause I got it  
Ooh, never be like you

“Chloe, please.” Beca pleaded, but her request went unheard or ignored as Chloe continued to sing.

I'm falling on my knees  
Forgive me, I'm a fucking fool  
I'm begging, darling, please  
Absolve me of my sins, won't you?

I'm only human, can't you see?  
I made, I made a mistake  
Please just look me in my face  
Tell me everything's okay  
'Cause I got it  


Beca knew that music was, and always had been a language unto itself between her and Chloe. There had been many times in their past when one of them, usually Beca, couldn’t find the words to get their meaning across and where words failed, music had always succeeded. So as Chloe’s song came to a close, Beca did the only thing she could think of. She grabbed the last word, riff off style, and sang to Chloe. hoping to send her own message back.

It's a cold rain  
It's a hard rain  
Like the kind you find in songs  
I guess that makes me the jerk with the heartache  
Here to sing to you about how I’ve been done wrong

I am rocking like a cradle  
Warming my hands with a cup in between  
I am leaning over the table  
Holding my face over the steam

And before it gets so cold  
That the rain turns to snow  
There's just a couple of things  
I'd like to know

Like how could you do nothing  
And say, I'm doing my best  
How could you take almost everything  
And then come back for the rest

How could you beg me to stay  
Reach out your hands and plead  
And then pack up your eyes and run away  
As soon as I agreed

It just all slips  
Away so slowly  
You don't even notice till you've lost a lot  
I've been like one of those zombies

In Vegas  
Pouring quarters into a slot  
And now I'm tired  
And I am broken

And I feel stupid and I feel used  
And I'm at the end of my little rope  
And I am swinging back and forth  
About you

Chloe caught on to what Beca was doing immediately and as soon as Beca was finished she started to sing.

You can't leave me here  
I've got your back now  
You'd better have mine  
'Cuz you say the coast is clear  
You say that all the time

So many sheep I quit counting  
Sleepless and embarrassed about the way that I feel  
Trying to make mole hills out of mountains  
Building base camp at the bottom of a really big deal  
Did I ever tell you how I stopped eating  
When you stopped calling me?  
And I was cramped up shitting rivers for weeks  
And pretending that I was finally free

You can't leave me here  
I've got your back now  
You better stay this time  
'Cuz you say the coast is clear  
But you say that all the time 

“Enough.” Beca said when Chloe was done singing, she had tried to play by the redhead’s rules and it was getting them nowhere.

“Beca please…”

“No Chloe.” Beca said cutting Chloe off as she got up from the couch and walked over to the entry way. “I can’t do this, not again. Not right now. I’m sorry”

Chloe got up as well and walked over to stand in front of Beca.

“Beca” she said her voice taking on a pleading tone.

“No.” Beca said, her voice harsh.

Chloe flinched at the sound and took a step back. Beca sighed, this night had spun out of control and it needed to end.

“I’m sorry.” Beca finally said her voice sounding much smaller than she meant it to.

Chloe nodded, the tears making their presence known in her eyes and voice yet again.

“Me too.” She said weakly as she walked to the door and let herself out.

* * *

 

The only good thing that had come from Beca and Chloe’s talk almost a week earlier, was that Beca now knew that she had actually done some healing in the initial six weeks they were apart. The way she had felt then was so much better than the way she felt now. Before she had missed Chloe and always felt the ache in her chest anytime a memory of the redhead came up, but now, now she hurt, and every heartbeat seemed to bring with it a new wave of pain. She didn’t seem to be able to have any thought that wasn’t about Chloe, and had even seriously considered going to see her on quite a few occasions, even though she knew she couldn’t. The last week had been hell, and Beca felt well and truly lost.

“Beca?”

Beca jerked her head up at the sound of her name, to see Corbin standing in her office door.

“Yeah?” She answered, trying and mostly succeeding to keep the irritation out of her voice.

“Are you ok?” He asked, his voice concerned.

“Yeah I’m fine. I was just... Sorry. What’s up?”

“Oh I just wanted to let you know that I called Jimmy, the manager over at Pete’s, and rescheduled your meeting for next Friday. I also gave him the message you asked me to.” Corbin responded, catching that whatever was wrong with his small boss was something she had no interest in talking about.

“And how did he take it?” Beca asked.

“He didn’t really say much, just that he was sorry and it wouldn’t happen again.”

The day after Jen and Chloe’s surprise concert, Beca had asked Corbin to call and reschedule the meeting at Pete’s and also let the manager know that, while she knew he and Jen were friends and he was just trying to help her, she was the owner of Pete’s and if he ever pulled anything like that again, she wouldn’t hesitate to sell the bar and let them fend for themselves with whoever bought it.

“Good.” Was all Beca said.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Corbin asked concern still tinting his voice.

Beca smiled at her assistant, the genuine care he always showed never ceased to amaze her.

“Actually yeah, could you clear the rest of my day? I think I need to get out of here for a bit.”

“Yeah, not a problem at all. I’ll take care of it.” He said with a smile before walking out of Beca’s office and back to his desk.

After a few moments of sitting and trying to decide what to do, Beca came to the conclusion that a walk would probably do her the most good. Maybe the old saying about fresh air would prove to be true and it would actually help her feel better.

Ten minutes later she had shut down her computer and was walking down the street, her headphones securely on her ears, not paying any attention at all to where she was going. As she walked she tried to clear her mind and focus on her steps and her breathing, but she just ended up slipping into a strange stream of consciousness thought process.  Thoughts passed through her head before she could even track them. ‘The weather is great today.’ ‘Actually it’s kind of hot.’ ‘Maybe I should have left my jacket in my office.’ ‘Was that a siren?’ ‘No, I think it was an ice cream truck.’ ‘That’s a cute bird.’ ‘Hi birdie.’ ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if birds would just land on your finger and say hi like in Snow White?’ ‘I think I understand why Snow White is one of Chloe’s favorite movies.’ ‘I wonder what Chloe’s doing right now?’

As Beca’s thoughts inevitably turned to the redhead, she stopped walking, shook her head, pulled her headphones off and let them rest around her neck. Having rejoined reality, she looked around trying to figure out where she was. When she spotted the giant unlit neon sign above her, she sighed a heavy sigh and shook her head again. She was standing in front of Pete’s. No matter how hard she tried or what she did, it seemed that all roads always led back to Chloe. She ran both hands over her face and through her hair, while trying to decide what to do. It was Tuesday, Chloe had her show here on Tuesday, but it was probably still early enough that she wouldn’t be here yet, Beca reasoned.

She had just decided that a drink sounded really good, and was about to push the door of Pete’s open, when she heard her name being called and quickly turned around. She found Chloe standing on the curb on the other side of the street, a bag from the corner store in her hand, looking at her questioningly.

Beca stood, frozen to the spot, fighting a war in her head. Part of her wanted to ignore Chloe, turn back around and go into the bar. Another part of her wanted to simply run away, back in the direction she had come, back to safety and yet another part of her wanted to run straight into the arms she knew would gladly open for her on the other side of the street.

All of the available options sounded amazing and horrible at the same time, so instead of doing any of them Beca stayed rooted to the spot and gave Chloe a sort of smile and a half assed wave.

Beca saw Chloe’s mouth move, but because of traffic on the cross street, she didn’t hear what the redhead had said. She shrugged and pointed to her ear to indicate as much.

Chloe rolled her eyes, a move that Beca was impressed translated from across the street, and looked both ways. She stepped off the curb and onto the street, looking a little irritated. Just as she got to the middle of the lane, Beca saw a car turn off the main road and onto the road that Chloe was currently crossing, the car moving a bit too quickly for her liking.

The next few moments seemed to roll by in slow motion as a few things happened all at once. Beca tried to yell at Chloe, to warn her that there was a car coming, but the car was moving too fast and before she could even finish her sentence, the car connected with Chloe. She heard the sickening crunch of breaking bones and saw Chloe fly limply through the air, landing ten feet in front of the car in a jumbled, broken, bloody heap. As life came crashing back into real time, Beca found herself at Chloe’s side before she even realized she had started moving.

As soon as she reached her broken love, Beca sat down hard on the pavement and scooped Chloe up into her lap while screaming at the driver, who had gotten out of his car and was saying something about not seeing her, to call 911. When he finally shut up and did as he was told, Beca cradled Chloe’s unconscious body, against her chest a bit tighter. Rocking her gently, repeating over and over that everything would be ok, she just needed her to be strong, to stay with her, the ambulance would be there soon, they would get through this.

As Beca heard the sirens come screaming closer and closer, she held Chloe even tighter, saying into her hair “They’re almost here baby, just hold on. Just hold on for me.”

The ambulance and two police cars came around the corner and the street quickly became a flurry of motion and lights. Beca allowed the paramedics to take Chloe out of her lap and get her loaded on a stretcher, as the police questioned the driver of the car that had hit her.

Beca followed the paramedics, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder when she tried to climb up into the ambulance.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but only family can ride along. You can meet us at the hospital though, we’ll be taking her to Cedars Sinai.”

Beca glared at the paramedic, she knew he was only doing his job, but she’d be damned if she’d let anything stand between her and Chloe right now.

“I’m her wife.” She quickly lied.

“Oh I’m so sorry” The paramedic said before offering his hand to help Beca up into the back of the ambulance.

As the paramedics swarmed around Chloe, hooking her up to all kinds of machines and in general doing everything they could to stabilize her, Beca sat motionless in the back corner, closest to the cab, and listened to the beeping of the heart monitor that they had hooked Chloe up to first. In that moment she found more comfort in those erratic mechanical beeps than she had ever found in any other sound ever.

She sat there watching the concerned looks and worried faces of the paramedics and a thought occurred to her. She quickly pulled out her phone, brought up Gabe’s contact info and sent a quick text.

Chloe was in an accident. It’s not good. I’m in the ambulance with her, told them I’m her wife. Headed to Cedars Sinai.

Beca’s phone chimed almost instantly.

On my way was all the message said.

She tucked her phone back into her pocket and watched Chloe’s unconscious form intently, as they made their way at full speed, lights and sirens on, to the hospital.

* * *

 

When they finally reached the hospital, the paramedics, who had become quiet and tense during the last part of the ride, were suddenly in motion again. The moment the ambulance had stopped, they quickly unloaded the stretcher and sped through the doors of the emergency department, forcing Beca to run to keep up with them.

Once they were in the building, Beca tried to follow them through the big double doors that led through to the patient rooms, but was stopped by a male nurse with kind eyes.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but you can’t go back there. You can wait out here in the waiting room and as soon as there is any word we can let you know.” He said softly.

“But she’s my wife. I need to be with her.” Beca insisted, continuing with her earlier lie, and trying to side step the nurse.

“I understand ma’am and I’m sorry, but they are taking her straight back into surgery and no one is allowed in the operating room.” The nurse said, as he moved to stay in front of Beca, keeping her blocked from the now closed doors.

Beca wanted to scream and punch the nurse, but she knew that would just get her thrown out of the hospital, and she couldn’t have that. She needed to be as close to Chloe as she possibly could. As much as she hated it, she accepted the fact that he was right and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Please tell me as soon as you know anything.” She finally said, her voice sounding weak.

The nurse looked down at her with a kind but sad smile. “I will. You have my word. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get some information from you.”

Beca nodded and sat down in the chairs in front of the intake desk, quickly giving the nurse all the info on Chloe that she had.

She had just finished with the nurse when Gabe came running in, whipping his head back and forth, his eyes wildly scanning the room, searching for her.

Beca stood up and Gabe made a beeline for her, scooping her up into his arms, gripping her in a tight bear hug, as soon as he was within reach.

“Is she ok? Have you heard anything yet? What happened? Are you ok?” He rapid fired questions into Beca’s hair as he held her tight.

“I honestly don’t know, we only got here a few minutes before you did, they haven’t told me anything yet.” Beca responded as Gabe let her go and they both walked over to the chairs closest to the nurse’s desk and sat down.

“What happened?” Gabe asked with a slight quiver in his deep voice.

“She got hit by a car. I was getting ready to go into Pete’s, Chloe was coming out of the corner store across the way and saw me. She went to cross the street but a car took the corner off of 12th too fast and hit her. I tried to yell, to warn her but the whole thing was over before I could even finish what I was saying.”

“How did she look though? I mean it’s just like a broken leg and a concussion or something right? Just something that can be fixed with a cast, some bedrest and some Ibuprophen right?”

Beca shook her head as tears began to stream down her face. “I… I don’t… think so. It was bad Gabe, so bad…” She wanted to say more, but found herself unable to speak as loud sobs started to choke her.

Gabe immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in against his side. Resting his cheek against her forehead. Beca could feel the heat and moisture of the man’s tears against her face as he spoke softly.

“Shhhh it’s alright. She’ll be ok. Chloe is a fighter; you should know that better than anyone.”

Beca knew that Gabe had intended his words to be reassuring, but they just made her feel worse. She did know that Chloe was a fighter. She had proven than more times than Beca could count over the years. Most recently in fighting for their relationship. Beca couldn’t help but feel like if she had just done things differently, maybe Chloe wouldn’t be in surgery fighting for her life right now. If she had let Corbin take the meeting at Pete’s, if she had just paid attention to where she was walking, or at least turned the other direction, if she had just taken Chloe back the night she had come over...

 “Whatever you are thinking. Stop.” Gabe said suddenly when Beca’s sobs had started to quiet slightly as she withdrew into her thoughts.

“What?” Beca asked around the tears still flowing steadily down her cheeks and breaking her voice.

“You’re blaming yourself for this. Stop it. There is nothing you could have done.”

“But Gabe, I…”

“No.” Gabe said firmly, cutting her off “There is nothing you could have done, this is in no way shape or form your fault. I know you and Chlo have been going through some bad shit lately, but I also know for a fact that she would not want you out here blaming yourself for something you had no part in. Besides you were there for her when it counted, you’re still here now. That’s what matters.”

Beca nodded, tearing up again. She didn’t believe the reassuring words at all, but Gabe seemed so convinced of them she couldn’t bring herself to argue.

Seeing Beca’s tears start to fall harder again, Gabe pulled her tight against his side, tucking her head under his chin, rubbing soothing circles into her shoulders as they sat in silence, waiting for news about Chloe.

What felt like hours later, but was probably only ten or fifteen minutes, Beca’s tears had finally stopped. She still sat pressed to Gabe’s side, his arm now draped loosely across her shoulders, her head laying lightly on his chest as she listened to the rhythmic, comforting sound of his breathing. She felt empty. The love of her life, however estranged they might be, was laying in some cold operating room, in God knows what condition and there was nothing she could do about it.

She had just resigned herself to the emptiness and feeling of uselessness when Gabe finally broke the silence, his voice soft and caring.

“She really does love you, you know.”

Beca nodded against his chest, before quickly adding “And I love her.”

“I hope you two can work everything out. You were so good together. I’ve never seen Chloe happier than when she was with you.”

Beca was just about to respond when a doctor dressed in light blue scrubs and a matching hair cap came out of the patient area and walked over, speaking briefly to the nurse at the desk.

Gabe and Beca both sat up as the nurse pointed at them and the doctor made his way over.

“Are you the wife and family of Chloe Beale?” The doctor asked.

“Yes.” Gabe and Beca answered at the same time, each holding the next breath.

“I’m Doctor Woods, could you both come with me please?”

Gabe and Beca both let out the breaths they had been holding and shared quick relieved looks as they got up to follow the doctor.

Beca was a little peeved that no one had come out to update them on Chloe’s condition before they just came out to take them back to see her, but at least she was going to get to see the redhead and this whole ordeal would be over soon.

Beca was expecting to be led back through the doors that the doctor had just come through and a feeling of overwhelming dread started to settle in the pit of her stomach, as they were instead brought to a small meeting area off the main waiting room.

“What is going on here? Why aren’t you taking us back to see Chloe?” Beca demanded frantically as soon as the door to the little room was shut.

“Mrs. Beale, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but the other Mrs. Beale didn’t make it. We did all we could, but her injuries were just too extensive.”

Beca stood for a moment in shock, as she heard Gabe choke back a sob behind her. This couldn’t be true. There was no way. Someone was playing a sick joke on her, or they got the wrong person. It was some other family named Beale who lost someone, not her, it had to be. Chloe couldn’t be gone, she couldn’t lose her, not like this.

“You have the wrong people.” Beca said finally, her voice firm.

Doctor Woods looked unsure for a moment before checking the paperwork in his hands.

“You are the wife of Chloe Beale, correct?”

“Yes,” Beca lied again and quickly added “but she can’t be gone, there’s no way.”

“Mrs. Beale, I know this must be very hard for you, but Chloe is gone. I’m very sorry for your loss. Would you like me to have a chaplain come meet with you?”

“NO BECAUSE CHLOE IS FINE. THERE’S JUST BEEN A MISTAKE.” Beca screamed at the doctor taking a step closer to him as she did. 

Gabe, who had been standing back trying not to fall apart, finally stepped forward and in between Beca and the doctor, gently taking her by the arms as he did.

“Beca she’s gone.” He said softly, the anguish he was feeling clear in his voice.

“NO!” Beca screamed back at him, the first signs of tears starting to make themselves known with the crack in her voice.

“Yes she is.” He said gently, his own tears starting to fall more steadily.

“NO.” Beca screamed again balling up both of her fists and slamming them into Gabe’s chest over and over again. “SHE’S NOT GONE. THERE’S BEEN A MISTAKE.”

Gabe grabbed Beca’s fists before she could do any real damage and pulled her tight against his chest, wrapping her up in his arms. “No sweetie, there’s no mistake, she’s gone.” He said quietly, his voice finally breaking on the last word.

“No.” Gabe heard her say weakly as she started sobbing into his shirt, wrapping her arms tightly around him. A moment later he felt her legs give out.

Gabe gently lifted her up and moved over to the small couch in the room. He sat down with Beca in his lap keeping her cradled against his chest as they both dissolved into body and soul wracking sobs, for the woman who had become such a large part of both of their lives, that neither knew how they could ever survive without her.

* * *

 

Beca sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily. She took a brief second to look around and figure out where she was, before she shot up, hit the floor in a run, and grabbed the pair of jeans laying on the chair next to her bed. She knew she needed to get back to the hospital as fast as possible, but she didn’t really want to do it in her underwear.

She had the jeans halfway up her legs and was frantically looking around for a pair of shoes, before she spared a thought for what she was doing. Something wasn’t right. She didn't remember coming home or leaving the hospital at all, for that matter. She quickly grabbed her phone and opened the messaging app. She scrolled down to Gabe's name and scanned through the thread. The last message that had been sent was over two months ago, something about picking Zay up from daycare. There was nothing about an accident. Nothing about Chloe at all. It had been a dream.

With a loud groan Beca tossed her phone onto the bed, whipped her jeans off, balled them up, threw them back onto the chair and crawled up onto her bed. She pulled the blankets up over her lap and sat with her back pressed into the headboard.

"Why is my brain such a dick?" She asked the empty room with a heavy sigh, rubbing her forehead. The dream, as they always did, had felt so real. She could still feel the heat of the tears rolling down her cheeks, could still feel the pressure of Gabe's strong arms wrapped around her as she had broken down, sobbing over the woman she had loved for so long, still did love, really. The one who was just as unattainable in life as she had been in death.

As Beca sat there, in her bed, trying to avoid thinking, but not being able to help it, she had the overwhelming urge to call Chloe, or at least text her. Just to make sure that she really was ok. Her dreams had never been prophetic before, but she didn’t really want to take the chance that this one would be the one that was. 

She grabbed her phone again, but paused as her finger hovered over Chloe's name. She slowly put the phone down on the bed next to her. She knew she couldn't, in good conscience, call Chloe. She couldn't give the redhead the false sense of hope that would come with the contact. As much as Beca needed to hear her voice, to speak to her and just make sure she was still there, as much as she wanted Chloe back in her life, if she was really being honest, she knew she couldn’t do or have any of that. Chloe had broken her trust and her heart. She had started to fall back into acting the same way she had when she had come to visit from Chicago and that was not something Beca could deal with. She needed Chloe too much to be able to go through that again.

Beca laughed darkly at herself and asked into the darkness. “I need her too much to have her. How fucked up is that?”

As Beca got lost in her head, her thoughts started to turn darker and get the better of her. She grabbed her phone once again and quickly pulled up the music player. If anything could help her sort out the jumble of emotion that was her mind, it would be music. She clicked shuffle and tossed the phone back down on the bed next to her. She heard the opening of the first song and let out a choked sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. When the chorus of the song began to play, she felt fresh tears start to flow steadily down her cheeks and resigned herself to the notion of crying herself to sleep, with the hook of the song playing on a loop in her head.

The time between meeting

And finally leaving is sometimes

Called falling in love

* * *

 

After a few hours of what might vaguely be called sleep, but more accurately would just be called restlessly tossing and turning. Beca got up, shut her music off and decided to get a jump on the day's coffee consumption out on her deck. Hoping that the morning might bring some semblance of clarity. 

After a brief trip to the kitchen, she made her way outside with her coffee in hand, and moved her chair to face east, so she could see the sunrise. As she saw the barest hint of pink begin to light up the eastern horizon, the thought that had come to her on the beach, the day after the big fight, came back to her. 'I'll be ok.'

Beca cocked her head as a look of puzzlement took over her face. Of all the thoughts she had expected to come out of this early morning muse, that was not even on the list, but the more she thought about it, the more sure of the idea she somehow became. Maybe she could be happy again.

Just as she had the thought, the negative part of her brain chimed in.

"But how will you be ok? How will you ever be happy without Chloe? How will you even know who you are without her?"

"Because I don't need her to be happy with myself." Came the immediate reply from the other side of her brain.

Beca stopped. She stopped breathing, she was pretty sure her heart had even stopped beating for a moment. In the brief stillness, she searched the deepest recesses of her heart and mind. What she found there shocked her. It was true.

For years Beca had looked at Chloe as her source of life, the one thing that she needed to go on. The measuring stick for her own identity. For the time Chloe wasn't there, Beca had never been sure how she had managed to exist at all, but now, now, suddenly Beca knew better. She didn't need Chloe, she never had. She wanted her, sure, she still did, always would, but...

Once again Beca stopped. Morning had indeed brought clarity and for the first time in what felt like eons, she knew exactly what she had to do. She grabbed her phone and made her way back inside to get ready for what was shaping up to be a very interesting day.

* * *

 

After she had gone back inside, she had sent Chloe a quick text.

Can you come by the office today?

Her phone had chimed almost immediately and she looked at the message.

When? Was all it said.

Anytime after nine. Beca quickly text back

I’ll be there at nine thirty. Came the almost immediate reply.

Beca spent the first thirty minutes of her day pacing her office, as she waited for Chloe to show up. She was nervous as hell, but excited at the same time.

“Beca?” Corbin’s voice brought her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah Corbin. What’s up?” She answered immediately.

“There’s a Miss Bales here to see you.”

Beca looked at him in confusion, but quickly rolled her eyes as she saw Chloe step out from behind him.

“Thank you Corbin.”

“No problem.” He said, with a puzzled look on his face, before leaving the two women alone.

“Bales? Really?” Beca asked, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Chloe gave Beca a shy smile. “It just seemed wrong for your assistant to call me by the right name.”

Beca chuckled and then added, feeling a bit more awkward than she expected to.

 “Well, thanks for coming over on such short notice.”

“No worries.” Chloe responded with another small smile, walking farther into Beca’s office and sitting down in the chair in front of her desk.  “So why did you want to see me?”

Beca walked back over to her desk and leaned back on the front of it. The two women stared at each other for a moment before Beca finally answered.

"I had a bit of a revelation last night, and I wanted to talk to you about it… If that’s ok." Beca started

“Yeah of course." Chloe said, the hesitancy of her tone contradicting the surety of her words. As happy as she was to be actually having a calm, civil conversation with Beca, she wasn’t sure where this was going and it made her nervous to say the least.

"I came to the conclusion that I don't need you anymore." Beca said simply.

Chloe's eyes widened in shock for just a moment, before a hurt and angry look replaced the smile that had been on her face. When Chloe was finally able to speak, her tone was equal parts annoyed and hurt.

"Beca if you just called me here to rub my face in the fact you're over me, then..."

"Chloe, no that's not what I'm saying at all." Beca came back immediately, cutting her off.

Chloe gave Beca a cautious look, but sat quietly as she waited for Beca to continue.

"What I'm saying is that for years I've felt like I needed you to be happy. I felt I didn’t even know who I was, if it wasn’t in context of who I was to you. But last night I finally figured out that's not true. My happiness, my identity, depends on me, not on you, or anyone else for that matter."

As Beca explained her revelation, she watched Chloe's face morph from confused to sad to angry and back to confused, before settling on a mix of all three.

"Well, I'm glad you're happy. If that's all you brought me here to tell me, I'll just be going then." Chloe finally said as she got up and started walking to the door.

"Chloe!" Beca said in exasperation, making the other woman stop and turn to look at her.

"What Beca? You don't need me anymore. Ok I get it. That's nice. Good for you." Chloe said as she turned back and started to make her way to the door again. She was pissed that Beca would ask to see her just to blow her off, and she didn't bother trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Holy hell woman! Will you please stop trying to leave, while I'm trying to ask you to stay?" Beca asked in exasperation.

Chloe stopped and took a sharp breath. Could she have heard Beca right? No, there was no way. Right? She turned slowly back to face Beca.

"What?"

Beca chuckled as she walked towards Chloe "My whole point is I don’t need you in my life, but I do want you there."

“Y… You… What?” Chloe stuttered in disbelief.

“I want you in my life.” Beca repeated, now standing in front of Chloe.

When Chloe continued to look at her dumbfounded Beca spoke again.

“Look Chloe. Life is short ok, you never know when something might happen that might take one of us off this planet and if something like that were to happen, I don’t want to have any regrets, especially when it comes to you. I want you in my life and as far as I can see there really isn’t any valid reason for you not to be there. You fucked up, I fucked up, we’ll deal with it. You just have to promise to be completely honest with me from here on out, ok?”

Chloe nodded, but still looked confused and after a few moments of thought, she spoke, the confusion ringing as clear in her voice as it showed on her face.

“Why?”

“Why what?” Beca asked, her face now mirroring the confusion on Chloe’s.

“I dunno, I guess Why now? Why not yesterday? Just why? I mean I know you were right to turn me away before, but what changed your mind?”

Beca sighed, she really hoped she wouldn’t have to have this conversation. When she spoke her voice was soft.

“When you came to visit four years ago from Chicago all closed off like you were, and then when you started acting like that again a few months ago, I didn’t know how to deal with it because I thought I needed you, the old you, and when that wasn’t who you were it threw me. I felt like I couldn’t even be around you without trying to change you back into who you were, because if you weren’t who I had always known you to be, then I didn’t really know who I was.  That was the whole problem, I depended on you for my own sense of self, but last night I came to the realization that I don't need you to define me. I am the only person who can do that. I want you in my life not because I need you there to tell me who I am, but because I genuinely like having you around.”

Chloe, at Beca’s soft and hesitant revelation, felt a sense of peace flood her and she leaned in to kiss her little DJ, but Beca stopped her with a firm hand on her chest before she could make contact.

"No." Beca said softly.

Chloe leaned back and looked at her, confused and a bit hurt.

"But, Beca, I thought you said..."

Beca raised her hand and cut Chloe off... "Chlo, what I said was that I want you back in my life." Chloe nodded and Beca continued speaking softly, "but, I'm not sure I can trust you to be back in that capacity." Chloe's expression fell into one of despair and Beca quickly added "Yet."

Chloe looked up, and as her expression changed, Beca saw the first signs of hope shining in her crystal blue eyes, mixed with the unshed tears.

Beca smiled and said "Let's just take it day by day, huh?"

Chloe returned Beca's smile with a watery one of her own and nodded. "Yeah that sounds good."

After a brief moment, Chloe stepped forward wrapping her arms around Beca’s shoulders and whispering into her hair, “I love you so much Beca, and I know I’ll never be able to make all the things I’ve done right, but that doesn’t mean I won’t spend the rest of my life trying.”

Beca wrapped her arms around Chloe’s waist and held her tight. She honestly had no idea where things with Chloe would go from here, or how they would turn out in the end, but the one thing she was absolutely sure of was that, for better or worse, she was glad to have the redhead, her redhead, back in her life.

“I love you too.” Beca whispered back, into a cloud of red hair that still smelled like sandalwood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Ok so, I’m almost afraid to ask, but what did you guys think? I hope my reassurance in the opening notes wasn’t too much of a spoiler, but I didn’t want anyone to freak out thinking I would actually kill Chloe off. Hopefully nobody got traumatized too badly. I knew, as many of you also pointed out in your comments, that I had to do something drastic to bring them back together and the only thing I could think of was to show Beca what Chloe really meant to her by “taking her away from her” also I couldn’t let the chance for one last dream sequence pass by. :)
> 
> Now, this is technically the last chapter, but have no fear I’m not going to leave things so open ended. There will be one final “chapter” in the form of an epilogue, that should tie up any loose ends and then of course we still have the alt ending. This has been one hell of a ride and thank you all for sticking it out with me! :)
> 
> As always I can’t wait to hear what you guys thought of this one! 
> 
> Song List:  
> (Halo - Beyonce ) Lyrical  
> (The One That Got Away - Katy Perry )Mashup  
> Never be like you - Flume  
> Done Wrong – Ani DiFranco  
> Independence Day – Ani DiFranco  
> Falling In Love – Lisa Loeb


	20. Epilogue pt 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hi everybody! Ok, so first of all, I know I suck. It’s been ions since I updated and I am so sorry about that! Shortly after the last chapter I sprained my ankle almost to the point of breaking it and spent a few months in physical therapy and very high on painkillers, which many of you may know is not at all conducive to writing. Then life took over, I got busy with work, and family, developed arthritis in my back (enter more painkillers) and then got married and things have just been a whirlwind. So once again I apologize from the bottom of my heart and give my sincerest thanks to anybody who is still interested in this story! I love you all!
> 
> So here we are the epilogue, now this chapter is going to be giant and I was going to post it all at once but seeing as I’ve been keeping you guys waiting for over a year now, I’m going to break it up into a few parts.
> 
> The epilogue starts off 13 years after the last chapter ended and a good portion of it will be told through a series of flashbacks, so there will be some time jumps, but they’ll all be explained as they happen. As always the flashbacks will be in italics. Enjoy, my friends! 
> 
> The song used in this chapter is called “Over the Moon” by Dustin rapier and if you’d care to listen to it to set the mood you can find it on apple music, spotify, sound cloud (I think) and amazon. 
> 
> Submitted for your approval…
> 
> Disclaimer: nope.

13 years later:

Beca sat on the couch in her living room almost vibrating with nervous excitement. It had been nearly a year since she had seen her best friend, and based on the last text update she had gotten twenty minutes ago, the woman should be arriving at any moment.  It had been so long, she wondered if she’d look the same and how much she had changed over the past year. They had kept in contact of course, but there was no substitute for seeing someone in person.

Beca was pulled out of her thoughts by a car door slamming outside and she jumped up off the couch, getting to the entry way of her comfortable suburban home in record time. As the door opened she saw a flash of red hair and the shimmer of crystal clear blue eyes. She kissed Chloe on the cheek and then quickly side stepped her, wrapping her arms around the tall brunette standing behind the redhead.

“Jen, it’s so good to see you! How have you been?” Beca asked as she embraced her friend.

“It’s good to see you too Becs. I’ve been great, how are you?”

“Sure, I see how it is. The wife is here all the time, no need to pay attention to her.” Chloe said in mock irritation.

Beca and Jen both laughed as they separated and the three of them all walked back into the living room.

Jen kicked her shoes off and stretched out on the long couch as Beca and Chloe went to, what Beca liked to, jokingly, call their assigned seats on the love seat across the room. Chloe’s arm, instinctively, wrapped around Beca’s shoulder keeping the smaller woman pressed firmly into her side.

As Chloe heard Jen ask Beca how things had been going at the office, and then heard Beca start to answer, her mind, soothed by the sound of her wife’s soft voice, started to wander.

* * *

 

_The road back into friendship had been a bit bumpy along the way, but both Beca and Chloe were committed to making it work._   _They had started off small, with texts and phone calls, then moving to lunches that got less and less awkward the more they happened. They had finally moved up to standing plans once a week. Sometimes it would be a dinner, sometimes a movie, but no matter what it was, it was always the highlight of Chloe’s week._

_So, when she saw Beca’s number pop up on her phone Friday afternoon, when their plans weren’t until Monday she wasn’t sure whether to be worried or excited._

_Chloe hit the answer button started talking before the phone was fully against her ear._

_“Hey Beca. What’s up?” she said trying to sound as cheerful as she could._

_“Hey Chlo. Listen my new assistant Corbin, invited me to go out to karaoke at Pete’s with him and his friend Sam tonight and I know it’s last minute, but I was just wondering if you’d like to come with.”_

_Chloe sat silently for a moment. It had been ages since Beca had called up asking to do something spontaneously and Chloe couldn’t help wondering if this meant that they had reached the next step in their rebuilding._

_“Chlo? Did I lose you?” Beca’s voice came through the phone._

_‘You could never lose me.’ Chloe thought. “Nope I’m here. Sorry just zoned off for a second.”_

_Beca chuckled. “No worries, so how about tonight?”_

_“Yeah that sounds like fun.” Chloe responded trying to not sound too enthusiastic. “What time should I meet you there?”_

_“Well…” Beca started and Chloe felt her face split into a wide grin at the smile she heard in the younger woman’s voice. “I was thinking that maybe, I could pick you up and we could do dinner or something before.”_

_Chloe was pretty sure her heart skipped at least three beats._

_‘Like a date?’ Her mind screamed. She felt the question settle itself on the tip of her tongue, but quickly swallowed it. She and Beca had been making amazing progress and the last thing she wanted was to screw things up by mistaking innocent intentions for something more._

_“Sure, that sounds great.” She said when she finally regained the ability to speak._

_“Ok cool. So how about I pick you up at seven?” Beca asked, the smile still obvious in her voice._

_“Seven works for me.” Chloe responded almost too quickly, earning another chuckle from Beca._

_“Ok sounds good. I’ll see you then.”_

_“Yeah, see ya.”_

* * *

_The rest of the afternoon, had gone just as one might expect._

_Chloe had tried everything in her closet on at least twice. Nothing fit, or looked right. She didn’t even know how she should look. She didn’t want to dress too sexy and have Beca think she was expecting something more than just dinner and karaoke, but she also didn’t want to dress too comfortably and have Beca think that she wasn’t open to more, should the desire and opportunity arise._

_Chloe sat down hard on her bed and flung herself back. She was putting too much thought into this and she knew it. Despite all the history between them, this was still Beca, her best friend. The woman who knew her better than anyone else. Chloe closed her eyes and tried to channel her college self._

_She thought back to the times they spent together in the Bella’s house, sometimes laughing and talking. Sometimes just existing, Beca on her laptop mixing, Chloe with her books spread out on the floor doing homework. Neither of them saying a word, or even looking in the others direction, but both of them comforted by the others presence._

_“Just exist.” Chloe said softly to the empty room on an exhaled breath and suddenly she knew what to do._

* * *

_At seven o’clock on the dot, Chloe heard a knock at the door._

_“Coming.” She yelled in the direction of the entry way as she did a quick mirror check to make sure she didn’t have any lipstick on her teeth. When she saw that her teeth were clear she took a deep breath and walked straight to her front door, opening it wide._

_When she saw Beca standing on the other side wearing a flannel over a tank top and a pair of black skinny jeans she not only knew she had made the right decision with her light blue sundress, but she also broke into a wide grin. She was happy to see what she could only assume was a mirror image of the grin on her own face on Beca’s face._

_“Wow you look fantastic.” Beca said as she looked at Chloe._

_Chloe smiled shyly “Thanks, so do you."_

_“Thanks” Beca said softly._

_They stood there for a few moments smiling awkwardly at each other, before Beca broke the silence._

_“So are you…”_

_“Oh, yeah totally.” Chloe said, cutting Beca off and then adding “Let me just grab my purse.”_

_The drive to the restaurant was relatively uneventful, filled mostly with small talk about their jobs and Beca asking Chloe a few questions about PR related things._

_When they got to the restaurant they were quickly seated and they sat for a moment just staring at each other._

_“So…” Beca finally said, somewhat acknowledging the awkwardness between the two of them._

_Chloe chuckled. It seemed so strange that a situation so familiar had them both so out of sorts. They had dinner once a week, it was nothing new at all, but something about tonight just felt different._

_“How’s Zay?” Beca finally said, bringing Chloe out of her thoughts._

_Chloe grinned, thankful for a safe topic, and began telling Beca about the presentation that the boy had recently had to do for his kindergarten class._

* * *

_Two hours later and both Beca and Chloe’s stomach’s hurt from laughing so much and so hard. There had been funny work stories, silly Zay stories, old Bella’s memories and stories about life in general. Chloe couldn’t remember the last time that she had had this much fun._

_As Beca was in the middle of a new story about a client she had had to fire because of a dispute over candy, her phone chimed with her text tone and Chloe’s heart instinctively fell to the pit of her stomach, as Beca reached for her pocket. It had been a long time since all of the issues with Jen and the two of them, but Chloe could still distinctly remember how it felt when she knew Beca was being pulled away from her to the office for no good reason._

_“Oh shit!” Beca almost yelled, after she had read her text._

_Chloe took a deep breath to calm her nerves, she knew that even if Beca did have to leave, it didn’t mean anything other than what it was. It wasn’t anything against her or the state of their relationship, whatever that might be._

_“Everything ok?” Chloe asked shakily._

_“Yeah” Beca said with a laugh “We were just supposed to be at the bar half an hour ago.”_

_“Oh, well hell.” Chloe said with an audible sigh of relief and a small smile._

_Beca noticing the smaller than normal smile and sigh, looked curiously at Chloe for a moment, before recognition seemed to pass over her features and she reached across the table and gave Chloe’s hand a gentle squeeze before saying._

_“Ready to go?”_

_Chloe smiled, bigger this time, but a little embarrassed. Leave it to Beca to know exactly what she was thinking._

_“Yep let’s go.”_

* * *

_Chloe had stopped working at Pete’s shortly after the big blow up that had happened there. She missed singing, but the place just held too many memories for her. However, walking in tonight with Beca at her side just felt right, and getting jostled by some rowdy patrons after just having walked through the door, she was glad to see that business was still good._

_The bar was far too loud to hear anything or anyone clearly and she was still a little lost in her thoughts when she felt a warm hand wrap around her own and felt the electricity that could only be caused by one person. Chloe looked down to see Beca’s hand wrapped around her own, she looked quizzically at Beca and was met with a small smile and a head motion that meant she should follow. She let Beca lead her thought the crowd and just a moment later they got to the table near the back that Corbin had been saving for them._

_“I had to fight off this guy who looked like he was on that stupid duck show to keep this table.” Corbin half yelled, once hellos and hugs had been exchanged._

_Beca and Chloe laughed and the three of them quickly fell into conversation as best they could with the loud music and people all around._

_A few minutes later Corbin was doing his best impersonation of the drunk singer that was currently on stage, when Chloe saw an arm come over Beca’s shoulder, that quickly  joined by another. When Chloe turned to get a better perspective, she almost had to do a double take. There was a tall redhead with blue eyes pulling Beca into a hug from behind. She couldn’t help but feel like someone had cloned college Chloe and waited for this exact moment to introduce them. The image before her looked almost exactly like one from a picture she had from their college days._

_Suddenly a very unwelcome memory popped into Chloe’s head. It had happened when she had come to LA from Chicago, Beca and her had gotten into a fight at a restaurant. Beca came in and sat on the foot of her bed and had said “ you show up here and you’re so different, so not you, at least not the you, you were”. Chloe felt her heart drop again. Beca had found a new and improved “old Chloe”._

_At that moment, the redhead stood up and faced Chloe, shooting a million dollar smile her way and extending her hand._

_“Hi, I’m Sam. It’s so amazing to finally meet you Chloe. I’ve heard so much about you.”_

_With a force that probably should have broken her jaw, Chloe managed to get her face out of the scowl that it so badly wanted to be in and wrapped it into the best imitation of a genuine smile she could._

_“Hi Sam, it’s great to meet you too.” Chloe said automatically, thankful for the loud music that, if the other woman’s unwavering smile was any indication of, seemed to be covering up the tension in her voice._

_Sam sat down at the table and Corbin jumped back into his impression. Chloe pretended to be interested, nodding and laughing when everyone else did, but as soon as the impression was over, got up under the guise of putting in a few songs to sing, and made a bee line for the back-stage area. She quickly made her way out the back door and into the relative silence of the alley way._

_Once Chloe heard the door shut behind her, she pressed her back into the brick wall that was still radiating heat from the sunny LA day and took a few deep breaths to steady herself.  She quickly reminded herself that she had no claim to Beca, and that was nobody’s fault, but her own. She had no right to be upset, even if Beca was dating her clone._  
  


_She was halfway thought her internal pep talk when the bar’s back door opened and she heard the all too familiar voice call out._

_“Chloe, you out here?”_

_She sighed internally._

_“Yeah, Becs over here.”_

_Beca let the door swing shut behind her and walked over to Chloe, concern written plainly on her face._

_“Everything ok?”_

_“Yeah, fine. I just needed some fresh air, it’s a big crowd in there tonight.”_

_“Ok.” Beca said, obviously not buying the explanation, but not wanting to push anything._

_They stood there for a moment, the awkwardness from earlier in the evening returning full force._

_“So, Sam seems nice.” Chloe finally said, mentally kicking herself the moment the words left her lips._

_“Huh? Oh, yeah she is.” Beca responded, confused at the abrupt change of topic. “I guess she was supposed to be meeting up with a date here tonight, but it’s starting to look like she’s not gonna show.” She added quickly to keep the awkward silence at bay._

_“A date?” Chloe asked, now looking as confused as Beca did. “But aren’t you two…”_

_“What? Me and Sam? No of course not. Why would you think tha…” Beca stopped midsentence and facepalmed herself, when the realization finally set in. “Chloe, do you really think that if I was going to date someone new that they would be a carbon copy of you?”_

_Chloe looked down at her feet. “No…  I guess… I just thought…” She sighed heavily “When I came to visit from Chicago you said you missed the old me and that woman in there is as close as you could get to the old me, without access to a time machine.” Hearing her own words out loud made Chloe feel stupid and petty, but she knew she needed to be honest. The days of keeping feelings hidden until they blew up, were over._

_“Chloe, please look at me.” Beca said softly as she stepped up and gently took Chloe by the arms. Once Chloe was looking at her she continued “I don’t want the old you. Expecting someone not to grow and change is ridiculous, life happens and we get bumps, bruises and scars along the way, but that doesn’t make us any less beautiful. As long as you are being true to yourself, then that is the only thing anyone can ask for. Sure, Sam is similar to how you were in college, scarily so sometimes, but she’s not you, not then and not now.”_

_Chloe desperately wanted to say something. To thank Beca, or to tell her how much she cared, or how much what she had said meant to her, but despite her best effort she couldn’t. Beca’s hands were still on her arms, and she was looking so lovingly at her, any signal sent from her brain just fizzled out along the way and all she could do was stand there and stare into the steel blue eyes that she had long ago come to equate with home._

_Beca, seeming to be stuck in the same haze as Chloe, opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth, smiled, and tried again, but this time instead of speaking, began to sing._

_I think I’m falling but I don’t want to_

_There’s too many voices in my head_

_They’re telling me when are you ever gonna learn_

_You’re playing with fire girl you’re gonna get burned_

_When I want to run I move in towards you_

_When I should hush I speak instead_

_I’m out of my league but I buy you a drink_

_And when our glasses clink_

_I get speechless_

_And then you kiss me once and say good night_

_Kiss me twice Can I stay here tonight?_

_It’s too much, too soon_

_But you make me swoon_

_Yeah, you’ve got me over the moon_

_Well I’m afraid to take a bite_

_But you can make everything alright_

_I don’t know what to do_

_But you make me swoon_

_You’ve got me over the moon_

_Well I’m not fallin in love, after last time_

_Cuz if I fall in love it’s gonna be the last time_

_I think I’m falling I think I like it_

_I’m not scared anymore_

_The walls I built all around_

_Have all come crumbling down_

_With every step closer, we’re in heaven_

_I wanna shout it out_

_I’m right where I need to be_

_And when you say I love you to me_

_I just go speechless_

_You hold me close_

_And steal the breath away from me_

_And then you kiss me once and say good night_

_Kiss me twice Doesn’t this feel right?_

_I don’t know what you do_

_But you make me swoon_

_Yeah, you’ve got me over the moon_

_I’m falling in love for the last time here with you_

_You’ve got me over the moon_

_By the time Beca was done singing Chloe wasn’t even pretending to try and hold back the tears anymore. Beca reached up and wiped a tear away with the pad of her thumb._

_Chloe nuzzled into the touch and said_

_“I’ve missed you so much Becs.”_

_“I’ve missed you too Chlo, so much.”_

_Before Chloe had a chance to register the movement, Beca’s lips were pressed to hers. The kiss wasn’t exactly chaste, but it was more comforting than passionate. It was kind of like coming home after a long hard trip. Suddenly there were no more pretenses, no more facades for the world, just warmth, comfort and love._

* * *

“Chlo?” Chloe, having been incredible lost in her thoughts, jumped at hearing her name. “Woah, you ok?” Beca asked, caught somewhere between amused and concerned.

Chloe laughed “Yeah sorry I guess I drifted off for a second there.”

“I’d say so.” Beca said smiling “I was just wondering what your vote was for dinner tonight, go out or stay in?”

“Why don’t we stay in?” She asked looking first at Beca and then at Jen, quickly adding “I’ll cook” in response to the horrified look on Jen’s face.

Jen cracked up laughing and Chloe couldn’t help but join in, earning her a poke in the ribs from her little wife, who was trying to feign annoyance.

Chloe kissed Beca on the cheek and got up to start dinner, stopping just short of the doorway and quickly glancing back at the love of her life with a shy smile. Wondering once again how she had gotten so lucky.


	21. Epilogue pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello all! First of all I want to wish you all a (late) very happy/merry christmahanukwanzicastice and a very happy and prosperous new year! I hope this season has held all the magic you could ever wish! 
> 
> Second of all I know I’m sounding a bit like a broken record, but I am so sorry it’s taken me so long to get this out! I won’t bore you with all the details, but let’s just say that moving is a bitch on a good day and doing it unexpectedly and over the holidays does not make it any better. :( But regardless of the messiness of life, I seem to be back up in fighting and writing form with part two of the epilogue for you. 
> 
> Just as a refresher the regular fonts at the beginning and end are thirteen years after the main story and everything in italics are flashbacks that happen shortly after the main story ended and are the story of all the years in between. I am going to try to start getting chapters out at least every couple of weeks until we are done with the epilogue and once again thank you all so much for sticking with me on this journey! 
> 
> Submitted for your approval… 
> 
> Disclaimer: still nope

Jen and Beca, at Chloe’s insistence, had retired to Beca’s home studio, while Chloe worked on dinner. It had actually been quite some time since Chloe had had the kitchen all to herself, and it didn’t take long for the relaxation that came with cooking combined with the quite of the house, for her memories to steal her mind away again.

* * *

 

_Chloe and Beca had been going strong for over six months. They had started out gently, changing their standing, once a week, plans to weekly date nights, that sometimes ended with sleepovers, but despite both of their determination that they wanted to take things slow, within the space of a couple of months they were pretty much back to living together. Zay was now, at Beca’s insistence, attending the best private performing arts school in the city, that just happened to be near her penthouse. So, they all quickly fell into the routine of staying at Beca’s during the week and Chloe’s on the weekends and on the days that Gabe had Zay._

_They had also developed weekly karaoke dates at Pete’s with Corbin and Sam. Sam, it seemed, was the perpetual lonely lesbian looking for a lover, and watching the never-ending stream of dates that she brought with her was, occasionally tragic, but mostly very entertaining._

_The first was a stone butch, who looked a bit too much like Elvis. She was intent on proving to the whole group that she was the biggest “gentlemen” that any of them had ever seen. She paid for everybody’s drinks all night, got up any time anyone else stood up, opened all the doors and pulled everyone’s chair out for them, including Corbin. By the end of the night Sam was so done with the over the top show that she actually feigned a sprained ankle to get away from her._

_The next one of note was some kind of intellectual hipster hybrid. She showed up to the bar in a black turtleneck and black jeans. Which wouldn’t have been an issue, had it not been the middle of June in LA. She then proceeded to tell them all about several bands, books, and plays that she experienced recently, that no one had head of and that honestly all sounded awful. When Beca tried to talk music with her, she scoffed and said that any band or artist that Beca would know about would, obviously, be much too mainstream and “dumbed down” for her liking. At that point Sam began, gushing about her love for The Spice Girls. The woman got disgusted and, to everyone’s relief, finally left._

_The most recent and the absolute worst had been the hippy chick. There was a hard rock music festival in town and it was an unusually quite night at Pete’s. The normal ear shattering roar was just a soft purr in comparison. The group was all sitting at a table talking when the smell of patchouli wafted over to them. They looked up to see a woman walking towards them, wearing clothes that looked like they had been pulled out of a dumpster. They were all very flowy and there were lots of layers, LOTS OF LAYERS. She had to have been wearing at least three skirts and no less than five beaded necklaces. By the time, she had made it to their table all of their eyes were watering from the stench of patchouli and BO, it smelled like instead of applying it with a sprayer she had just bathed in gallons of it. Except that would have meant that she had actually bathed in the last few months, a fact which they were all very skeptical about._

_After introductions, she went to order a drink and twenty minutes later, after grilling the bartender about every ingredient in every single drink they served, settled on water. She then informed them that she was a fruitarian, apparently meaning that she only ate raw fruits and vegetables, which wasn’t that weird, until she started explaining to the group that cooking fruits and veggies removes their souls, and how were you supposed to get the support for your mystical immune system without them. The night quickly went even further down the tubes as the hippy, who called herself Moonfire, noticed that Sam was wearing leather shoes. A fact which sent her into a crying fit and then a long lecture about the poor calf that was now motherless because of Sam’s need for “high fashion” before she stormed out, leaving them all completely dumbstruck._

* * *

_A week later, Chloe, who was lying in bed with her head resting on Beca’s chest, chuckled._

_Beca put her book down and looked at Chloe._

_“What?”_

_“Oh, nothing just wondering what kind of delightful person Sam is going to bring to Pete’s tomorrow night.”_

_“Oh, good lord.” Beca said, making Chloe laugh again “Well whoever they are, they can’t be worse than Peaceful Apple, or whatever the hell her name was.”_

_“Mmhm, you’ve got a point there!”_

_“That shirt I was wearing that night still smells like patchouli, and I’ve washed it three times. I may never be able to wear it again.”_

_Chloe laughed harder “I’m sure you’re just exaggerating. There is no way that shirt smells like patchouli you never even touched Lunar Blossom.”_

_Taking this as a challenge Beca got out of bed went to the closet and retrieved the shirt, handing it to Chloe for inspection. Chloe looked sideways at her, but still took the shirt and smelled it. Her eyes went wide._

_“Holy hell, it does smell like patchouli.”_

_Beca smiled. “See, I told you.”_

_“I will never doubt you again.” Chloe said seriously, before they both dissolved into hysterical laughter._

* * *

_The next night, Beca and Chloe were running late, and when they got to Pete’s it was already packed. They decided to get drinks first, rather than having to wade back through the sea of people after they said hi to their friends._

_They had just ordered their drinks when they each felt an arm wrap around their shoulders and they turned to see Sam standing behind them grinning._

_“You’re never going to believe it.” Sam said, her smile growing a bit brighter._

_“Dances With Moon Beams came back and is holding your shoes hostage until you find her a rutabaga?” Beca asked with a laugh._

_That earned her a glare from Sam and a flat._

_“No.”_

_“Elvis has, uh-hu, not left the building?” Chloe offered._

_“I hate you both.” Sam said, her tone even flatter this time._

_“We’re just giving you hell.” Beca finally said when she and Chloe were done laughing. “What’s up?”_

_Sam rolled her eyes, but her joy quickly came back as she started talking._

_“So, my date for tonight is amazing. She’s not crazy at all, she’s cute, she smells good, she hasn’t named one band that I haven’t heard of, and she hasn’t pulled out anyone’s chair all night.”_

_“Well, sounds like you found a keeper.” Beca said._

_“I know you’re being a smartass, but I think I actually might have.” Sam said a little more quietly._

_Beca and Chloe were both taken aback. Sam wasn’t the kind of person who thought every person that looked kindly at her was “the one” so if she was talking like this it meant she must really like this girl._

_“Well we can’t wait to meet her. Just let us pay for our drinks and we’ll be right over.” Chloe said, much more serious now._

_Sam nodded excitedly and made her way back into the crowd._

_Chloe turned back to Beca._

_“Wow.”_

_“I know, I can’t believe she called me a smartass.”_

_Chloe rolled her eyes as the bartender passed them their drinks and Beca handed him her credit card and told him to open a tab._

_“Come on” Beca said, taking Chloe’s hand “Let’s go meet the mystery woman.”_

_Chloe looked around at all the people who were there as they pushed their way through the crowd in the same direction that Sam had gone. They were almost to where they usually sat when Beca’s grip on Chloe’s hand tightened painfully._

_“Ow. Beca.” Chloe said, surprised and in pain, but Beca was not paying attention. Chloe followed the laser beams that Beca was trying to shoot from her eyes and audibly gasped at what she saw. There at their usual table sandwiched between Corbin and Sam was Jen._

_“Becs?” Chloe asked as softly as she could._

_Beca turned around and mumbled “I can’t.” Before making a beeline for the stage door._

_Chloe followed as quickly as she could and when she made it through the sea of people and out the stage and back doors, found Beca leaning against the brick wall nervously chewing on the edge of her thumb nail._

_“Becs?”_

_“I can’t do it Chlo. I just can’t. After all the shit she pulled. After all the hell she put us though, I just can’t.”_

_“Hey, hey, hey. Calm down it’s ok. No one is going to make you do anything.” Chloe said softly as she pulled Beca into her arms._

_When Beca had finally calmed down a bit Chloe stepped back and looked into her eyes seriously._

_“Becs I need you to listen to me for a second, OK?”_

_Beca nodded._

_“Now I meant what I said, I’m not going to make you go in there if you don’t want to. We can text Sam and Corbin and tell them one of us suddenly isn’t feeling well, but I do want you to think about something for a second.”_

_Beca nodded again._

_“We’ve already acknowledged that a big part of what happened between the three of us was our own faults right?”_

_Another nod_

_“Now I know Jen made it exponentially worse, but she also did try to help me get back in touch with you after everything was over. I know that she really does feel bad for what happened and I also know how close you guys once were. So maybe we could give her the benefit of the doubt and try to be friends?”_

_Chloe was expecting a resounding no, but instead Beca actually seemed to think the concept over for a few moments. When she finally spoke, her voice was a bit shaky._

_“She hurt me so bad Chlo.”_

_Chloe pulled her into her arms again, her heart breaking at the vulnerability in the smaller woman’s voice._

_“I know she did baby, but she thought she was doing what was best for you, and just got carried away. She really does care about you and believe me, if she tries to come between us again I will personally kill her and burry her at my uncle’s farm in Minnesota.”_

_That earned a laugh from Beca, and after another moment of being held, she finally pulled back, took Chloe’s hand and said._

_“Ok let’s give it a try, but I’m gonna hold you to that killing her thing.”_

_Chloe laughed “It won’t be a problem.”_

_Chloe and Beca, after getting fresh drinks to replace the ones they had abandoned when the left the bar, waded back through the crowd to their usual table. When Sam saw them she jumped up excitedly and rounded the table, quickly strapping an arm around each of their shoulders._

_“Gee’s guys that took forever. Beca and Chloe this is my date…”_

_“Jen.” Beca said, cutting Sam off._

_Jen gave a small wave, her face showing a mix of shame, fear and shock at seeing her old friend._

_“You know each other?” Sam asked, her excited tone quickly falling to one of apprehension._

_Beca motioned to the table, and she and Chloe sat down as Sam made her way back around to sit next to Jen. When everybody was settled Beca finally spoke._

_“Yeah. Jen used to be my assistant.”_

_Corbin’s eyes went wide in horror and Sam just looked confused._

_“Wait I thought you only had one assistant before Corbin. The crazy one who wrecked your life and almost did the same to your label.”_

_Jen looked down, suddenly seeming to find her hands very interesting. Beca just looked at Sam blankly._

_“Well fuck.” Sam finally said when the reality of what was going on hit her._

_Jen sighed sadly, “I guess I should be going.”_

_“Wait!” Chloe said before Jen could get up “Sam, Jen isn’t the same person she was back then. She got caught up in trying to protect Beca and just took it too far. She’s seen how wrong what she did was and even tried to help me win Beca back at one point. I mean it failed horribly, but she was more than willing to help. Even Beca is willing to try and bury the hatchet, so please don’t write her off because of some past mistakes.”_

_Sam looked to Jen “Is that true? I mean about you trying to help Chloe get Beca back?”_

_Jen looked up and shot a small grateful smile in Chloe’s direction, before looking back at Sam. “Yeah it is, we came up with a whole plan, and like Chloe said it was an epic fail, but I wanted to try to right my mistakes."_

_Sam nodded and then looked to Beca. “Beca are you ok with this?”_

_Beca looked from Chloe to Sam and then finally at Jen. “I’m willing to try.”_

_“Well if you’re willing to, so am I.” Jen said softly._

_Jen and Beca shared a small awkward smile as they both resolved in their own minds to really try to put the past behind them._

* * *

“Mom? Mamma? Anybody home?”

Chloe was pulled from her thoughts by her son’s deep voice booming from the front of the house. She was just about to call out, when she heard Beca’s voice ring out clearly.

“Down here in the studio Little Dude.”

Chloe laughed. At sixteen Zay stood at six feet tall and had shoulders almost as wide as Beca was tall. The fact that her tiny wife still called him “Little Dude”, and that Zay still accepted it as if it was the most natural thing in the world, held no end of amusement for Chloe. She honestly wasn’t sure their little family could get any more perfect than it already was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So there ya go. Another little big of insight into how our girls got to where they are now, with more to come. :) Thank you all once again for your support I don’t think I ever would have gotten this far with this story if it hadn’t been for you guys. :) As always I’d love to hear what you think, and you can always come talk to me over on tumblr at the-breaths-of-chloe.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: You made it to the end. Yay! Still with me? So what do you think? I am planning on this being multi-chapter so anything you’d like to see happen in the future? Like I said earlier, I’m brand new at this, so any and all reviews/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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